Character Information Sheet
NS Nation Name: Greater Arab State
Character Name: Jennifer Marshall
Character Gender: Female
Character Age: 49
Character Height: 5'3
Character Weight: 123 lbs
Character Position/Role/Job: Governor of Kansas (2019-Present), Commentator for Bloomberg (2017-2019), 37th Secretary of Commerce (2011-2017), Chair of Administration for the House Blue Dog Coalition (2009-2011), Representative for Kansas' 3rd Congressional District (1999-2011), Representative for the 19th District of the Kansas House of Representatives (1995-1999)
Appearance:
Character State of Origin: Oklahoma
Character State of Residence: Kansas
Character Party Affiliation: Democratic (1983-Present)
Main Strengths: High name recognition within Kansas, ability to work across the aisle on legislation, strong support amongst female voters.
Main Weaknesses: Criticised by progressives as being too conservative for the Democratic Party, privileged upbringing may dampen appeal amongst blue-collar voters somewhat, somewhat weak support amongst the grassroots.
Biography:
Jennifer Gretchen Marshall (née Asquith) was born in Oklahoma City on the 15th of October, 1969. The only child of an attorney and his stay at home wife, Jennifer lived a comfortable existence, not lacking in terms of physical possessions or the unrivalled affections of her parents. The financial situation of her parents meant that Jennifer was able to attend the private Casady prep school, where she excelled in her studies. However, her high school years also saw Jennifer develop her first sense of political identity, electing to join the Democratic Party in 1983 as a result of her view that the Democratic Party was more fiscally responsible with regard to managing the finances of the United States in comparison to the perceived frivolous spending undertaken by Republican administrations. Upon graduating High School in 1988, the young Ms Asquith studied International Affairs at George Washington University, it was during her college years that Jennifer truly began to develop her political identity, actively campaigning within both the College Democrats as well as within the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries for the candidacy of then-Senator Paul Simon, an event that in combination with her parental upbringing, caused the young Jennifer to gravitate towards being a 'Blue Dog' Democrat, she would use the experience gained within the College Democrats in order to secure an internship with the DNC over the course of her college education, a matter which would stand to benefit her upon graduation.
Upon her graduation in 1992, Jennifer Asquith moved to the state of Kansas, using the experience and contacts she had developed within the Democratic Party during her studies at George Washington University in order to find employment within the Kansas State Democratic Party, specifically on the staff of the then-Representative of District 19 of the State House, although viewing a large part of the work as being relatively mundane at first, Jennifer continued to put her utmost into it, in preparation for pursuing elected office in the near future. This opportunity came within the next election cycle, with the announced retirement of the 19th District's Representative enabling Jennifer to pursue office. Running on a campaign of fiscal sustainability and a moderate social policy, despite attacks on her perceived youth and inexperience Asquith narrowly won both the Democratic primary and the general election with 36% and 50.6% of the vote respectively.
Overall, Asquith's time in the House as rather unremarkable, mostly voting in line with the Party and focused primarily on establishing connections that would enable Jennifer's political career to advance further. Despite this however, a particular area in which State Representative Asquith became notable for speaking on was agricultural policy, most notably the issue of agriculture subsidies, speaking frequently in favour of maintaining agricultural subsidies with great eloquence enabled Asquith to act as a minor surrogate for the Clifford campaign for the 1996 Presidential Election, which saw her actively campaign within her own District and the wider state, an effort which despite the state voting for (Not-Dole) enabled Asquith to enhance her credentials within the Kansas Democratic Party and acted as a springboard for her to use within the next election cycle.
Come the 1998 Midterm Elections, Asquith ran for the 3rd Congressional District of Kansas, running on her previous platform of fiscal responsibility and social moderation in addition to utilising the media coverage she had accumulated over her State House tenure in order to win the Democratic primary with 51% of the vote and then going onto being elected to the House with 53% of the vote after rather successfully courting independent and moderate voters. Soon after being inaugurated, the now Representative Asquith joined the nascent Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally conservative and socially moderate Democrats, soon after, Representative Asquith began to develop reputation for being amongst the Coalition's most eloquent speakers, regularly speaking on issues of prime concern to the Coalition, even if it times it went against the wider Democratic whip. The following year, Jennifer Asquith married Howard Marshall, an accountant who Jennifer had initially met whilst studying at George Washington University and who she had recently reconnected with through mutual friends.
However, in the wave of patriotic fervour that swept across the nation following the September 11 attacks in New York City, Representative Marshall for a time began to take interventionist foreign policy positions, supporting the 2001 Invasion of Afghanistan as well as the initial Invasion of Iraq in 2003. Despite becoming critical of the lack of planning for governing Iraq post-Saddam, Representative Marshall continued to support a US, most notably by joining 30 other Blue Dog Democrats in refusing to pay party dues to the DCCC in protest of remarks by California Representative (Not-Woolsey) calling for anti-war activists to launch primary challenges against Democrats who voted against ending the Iraq War.
Come the Democratic Primaries for the 2008 Presidential Election, Representative Marshall almost immediately endorsed the candidacy of Senator Clifford, with the Representative becoming an enthusiastic surrogate for the Senator's campaign within Kansas soon after. Despite this however, Representative Marshall's attempts were in vain, with Senator Baharia decisively winning Kansas in the primaries and then going on to win the Democratic nomination. Despite this setback, Representative Marshall supported the Baharia campaign to the fullest extent possible. As a result, and despite Kansas voting for McDowd, Representative Marshall had ensured that her political position was secure, particularly within the Blue Dog Coalition, which elected her as its Co-Chair for Administration in January 2009.
Ultimately however, Representative Marshall's tenure as Co-Chair of the Blue Dog Coalition saw it face difficulties within the House with regard to votes on legislation that the Baharia campaign had primarily campaigned on, most notably the issue of a public healthcare option, this was exacerbated further as a result of members of the Blue Dog Coalition on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, including Representative Marshall, successfully delaying the House vote on the Health Insurance Reform Bill until after the 2009 summer recess, a matter which stirred a significant degree of controversy amongst the Democratic grassroots, and amongst some members of the DCCC for that matter. Consequently, the 2010 Midterms saw both Representative Marshall and her Caucus in a poor position, with the Representative having received relatively low amounts of finance and support from the DCCC due to the previous opposition of the Blue Dog Coalition to elements of the Baharia campaign's legislation. Despite this, the Kansas Representative pushed hard for the House campaigns of her fellow Caucus members, to the extent that her own campaign was neglected at times as a result. Despite her efforts though, the Blue Dog Coalition lost more than half of its members in that year's elections, including Representative Marshall, who narrowly lost with 49% of the vote.
The immediate months following her electoral defeat found the former Representative Marshall embittered as a result of the lack of support that had been afforded to her, but most importantly several of her caucus members in fighting for reelection. However, Mrs Marshall decided to avoid stoking any controversy that might damage any potential prospects for a return to political office in the future, instead electing to care for her young son and generally spend time with the family that she had been unable to enjoy fully whilst on the Hill for the time being. However, opportunity would soon after come to Mrs Marshall in the form of a vacancy for the Cabinet position of Commerce Secretary following the resignation of (Not-Locke) in the August of that year. Despite initially holding reservations regarding the position, most notably her perception that the position was primarily intended to keep her from criticising any aspect of the Administration after the Midterms, however, Mrs Marshall made the decision to accept the offer and was nominated by the Baharia Administration over that summer and fall. Marshall's confirmation was a relatively uncontroversial affair, with her emphasising both her strong record of experience on the Commerce and Energy Committee in addition to her ability to work in a bipartisan manner, consequently, Marshall was confirmed 58-42 in favour in a vote that fell for the most part on partisan lines, with a small number of Republican Senators crossing to vote in favour.
Upon being sworn-in, Secretary Marshall made it her main priority to work on Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement between the US and 11 other nations that would if successful have the record for the largest regional trade agreement in history. Secretary Marshall soon became a strong proponent of the trade agreement, arguing that it would allow American farmers to have lower prices and the ability to enjoy easier access to foreign export markets and would allow the wider US economy to continue to recover following the Great Recession. In addition, another notable issue surrounding Secretary Marshall's tenure was the thaw in relations between the United States and Cuba, despite this, Secretary Marshall pushed the White House to continue the embargo of the Cuban economy for the time being based on human rights grounds, efforts in which she was successful. Despite the relative success of her tenure at the Commerce Department, the 2016 election saw the work undertaken by the Secretary being undermined and opposed, most notably of all the work done on the TPP which after Secretary Clifford was forced to tack to the left as a result of the primaries, meant that both major parties opposed continued US membership of the TPP. Soon after, Arnold Wolf Sr was elected as President, an event which left Secretary Marshall, who had once again been an early endorser of the Clifford campaign, both astounded and to a degree disheartened, with the Secretary cutting back on media and public appearances as the transition took place, instead focusing on ensuring that the Commerce Department was fully prepared for the new Administration whilst also steadying Us trading partners over the course of the Presidential transition.
Upon the end of the Baharia Administration in January 2017, the former Secretary Marshall found herself receiving an offer to work as a commentator for the Bloomberg television network, an offer which Mrs Marshall accepted with little hesitation. Using her experience both within the House and then as Secretary of Commerce, Mrs Marshall quickly developed as a hit feature of Bloomberg, particularly as her commentary regularly criticised the President on the trade front, arguing that the increased protectionism from the US was damaging American soft power as well as leading to a poorer economic situation in the long term, placing a great deal of emphasis on the farming community with the latter. Despite this, Mrs Marshall soon became privately dissatisfied with being out of political office, something which would present an opportunity in 2018.
Come the 2018 Midterms, Mrs Marshall took the step of running for Governor of Kansas, running on a platform of fiscal centrism and responsibility as well as emphasising her experience on both the Hill and at the Commerce Department, Jennifer Marshall was able to win the nomination with 52% of the vote in the Democratic primary. Soon after, Mrs Marshall tacked to the centre ground for the general, emphasising her ability to work across the aisle on scrutinising legislation and for passing legislation, a matter evidenced through the scale of her confirmation vote in 2011, in addition, Mrs Marshall primarily focused on winning over anti-Wolf Republicans and independent voters as a result of a lack of enthusiasm for her campaign by progressive Democrats in Kansas' urban areas. Soon after, Mrs Marshall secured a surprising victory, being elected Governor with 49% of the vote.
So far, Governor Marshall's tenure has primarily been focused on supporting the agricultural community within the state of Kansas, placing a slight increase in the level of state agricultural subsidies in order to minimise the impact of the US-China trade war on Kansas farmers as well as efforts by the Governor to heal the national political divide within Kansas. Currently, Governor Marshall has remained relatively silent on the 2020 race to replace Wolf, waiting to see how the Democratic primary shapes up before taking a hard stance behind any particular candidate, although now might just be the time for such an event to take place.
Other Info: Episcopal, married to her husband of 17 years, Howard with one son, Henry (Born September 2005)
I have read and accept the rules of the roleplay: Greater Arab State
Do Not Remove: 84721