Julianne E. Ortman (born August 29, 1962) is a

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

politician and former member of the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are hel ...

. A member of the

Republican Party of Minnesota The Republican Party of Minnesota is the oldest active political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The Minnesota Republican Party’s platform is relatively moderate. The party’s main issues are economic growth, education, healthcare, civi ...

, she represented District 47, which included portions of

Carver County Carver County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The county is mostly farmland and wilderness with many unincorporated townships. As of the 2020 census, the population was 106,922. Its county seat is Chaska. Carver County is named for ...

in the southwestern

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

metropolitan area. She was a candidate in the

2014 United States Senate election in Minnesota The 2014 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Minnesota, concurrently with the election of the Governor of Minnesota, as well as other ...

until she was eliminated at the state convention.

Early life, education, and career

Ortman graduated from

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

in 1986, then went on to the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and olde ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, graduating with a J.D. in 1989. She was an adjunct professor at

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

from 1992 to 1994. Ortman served as a Carver County Commissioner from 2001 to 2003. She is an attorney by profession, heading up Ortman & Associates law firm in

Chanhassen Chanhassen is a city about southwest of Minneapolis in Carver County and partially in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The southwest edge of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul suburbs, there is a mix of residential neighborhoods and rural ...

. She has also worked as the chief financial manager for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department since 2007.

Minnesota Senate

Ortman was first elected to the Senate in 2002, and was reelected in 2006, 2010 and 2012. She served as an

assistant minority leader A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology o ...

during the 2007-2008 legislative session. On January 3, 2012, Ortman was named Deputy Majority Leader by Majority Leader

Dave Senjem David Howard Senjem ( ; born December 20, 1942) is an American politician and member of the Minnesota Senate. He served as its majority leader from 2011 to 2013. A moderate Republican, Senjem has crossed party lines on many occasions, notably e ...

. Ortman replaced Sen.

Geoff Michel Geoff Michel (born November 13, 1963) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate who represented District 41, which included portions of the southwestern Twin Cities suburbs of Edina and Bloomington in Hennepin County. A ...

, who lost his position in a shake-up of Republican leadership following the resignation of former Majority Leader

Amy Koch Amy T. Koch (born October 8, 1971) is an American politician and a former majority leader of the Minnesota Senate, where she represented portions of Hennepin and Wright counties. Koch, the first female Senate majority leader in state history, i ...

. She did not seek re-election in 2016.

2014 United States Senate campaign

On August 3, 2013, Ortman announced her candidacy in the 2014 United States Senate election in Minnesota. Ortman was endorsed by former

Governor of Alaska A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...

in March 2014. She was eliminated at the May Convention in the 5th round of voting by delegates, with 19.97% of the votes, falling just 1 vote shy of the 20% needed to advance to the 6th round.

Other

Ortman serves on various government and community boards and organizations. She has been a director on the Southwest Transportation Coalition since 2001, and is a member of the Minnesota Regional Rail Authority. She is chair of the Instate Compact on Sentencing, and a member of the Minnesota Compensation Council. She has also been a trustee of the Metropolitan Regional Library Association since 2000. On February 21, 2008, Ortman requested that the Subcommittee on ethics determine whether she had a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

as chief author of two bills, SF294 and SF2984, due to her employment as the Finance Director in the Office of the Hennepin County Sheriff. The Subcommittee considered the issue on March 6, 2008, and concluded that she did not have a conflict of interest as the chief author of either of the two bills.

References

External links

Minnesota Public Radio Votetracker: Senator Julianne OrtmanProject Vote Smart - Senator Julianne Ortman Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortman, Julianne 1962 births Living people Republican Party Minnesota state senators People from Carver County, Minnesota Women state legislators in Minnesota 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni