From collection Candidates
Pauline Steinem, a veteran civic reformer in Toledo, Ohio, was possibly the first Jewish woman elected to political office in the United States. Steinem was nominated by a non-partisan group of women activists, for the Toledo school board in 1904. A coalition candidate, well-known in the city for her work in schools and reform for children, and as the leading officer of several women's organizations, including the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. While the campaign was spearheaded by women activists, Steinem also received a great deal of support from Toledo Progressive Mayor, Samuel Milton Jones. Steinem and her supporters ran a sophisticated and broad-based campaign, uniting various voting blocks across the city. Steinem received at least 1,000 more votes than her closest competitor. While on the school she initiated several reforms and served for five years. Refusing to run for a second term, Steinem served in Ohio suffrage offices after 1910, as well in other organizations. Steinem's granddaughter, Gloria Steinem is considered one of the founders of the Women's Liberation movement in the 1960s, a founder of the National Organization of Women, and a leader of the women's movement in from the second half of the twentieth century onward.
