Margaret O'Brien (born November 20, 1973) is a former member of the

Michigan Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, ado ...

and the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2010 ...

. A member of the Republican Party, she represented a district based in

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

Early life

O'Brien was born in

Kalamazoo County Kalamazoo County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. , the population was 261,670. The county seat is Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo County is included in the Kalamazoo– Portage, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Kalamazoo Count ...

to Richard and Katheleen (Crawford) Wilson. Her childhood was spent on dairy farms with her three brothers, first in Pavilion Township and then in Texas Township. She attended Fulton and Indian Lake Elementary Schools in

Vicksburg Vicksburg most commonly refers to: * Vicksburg, Mississippi, a city in western Mississippi, United States * The Vicksburg Campaign, an American Civil War campaign * The Siege of Vicksburg, an American Civil War battle Vicksburg is also the name of ...

and graduated in 1991 from

Mattawan High School Mattawan High School is a public high school in Mattawan, Michigan. It is the only high school in the Mattawan Consolidated School District and serves grades 9-12. Athletics Mattawan High School's Wildcats compete in the Southwestern Michigan ...

, where she excelled in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

and cross country. The women's track record for the 3200-meter relay, set in 1991, is still held by O'Brien and her teammates. She earned a bachelor's degree in international relations from James Madison College at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

. From 1995–2003, O'Brien was a social worker with Catholic Family Services. She then worked as a real estate agent at

RE/MAX RE/MAX, short for Real Estate Maximums, is an American international real estate company that operates through a franchise system. As of 2015, RE/MAX had more than 100,000 agents in 6,800 offices. RE/MAX operates in about 100 countries. Hi ...

and served on the City Council of

Portage, Michigan Portage is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, Kalamazoo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 46,292 in the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census. It is the smaller of the two main cities included in the Kalamazoo–Por ...

, from 2003–2010. She lives in Portage with her husband and four children.

Political career

O'Brien was first elected to the Michigan House in 2010 and became active on private property rights, education reform, adoption, and direct access to physical therapy. She was twice unanimously elected as associate speaker pro tem and often presided over sessions of the House. In 2014, she was elected to represent the 20th district in the

, defeating Democratic nominee Sean McCann and

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

nominee

Lorence Wenke Lorence R. Wenke (born October 9, 1945) is an American politician from the state of Michigan. He is a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives. Career Wenke served in the Michigan House of Representatives. In 2004, Wenke was one of ...

. In the Senate, she was unanimously elected as assistant president pro tem and again frequently presided over sessions. She worked on bills to ensure the rights of people with

service animals Various definitions exist for a service animal. The Americans with Disabilities Act defines the term as "dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities". Dogs are the most common service animals, havi ...

, to provide state IDs to the homeless, to protect victims of domestic violence, to enact safe passing distances for vulnerable roadway users, and to train caregivers of seniors and people with disabilities. O'Brien is known for her work to change Michigan's sexual assault laws in the aftermath of the

Larry Nassar Lawrence "Larry" Gerard Nassar (born August 16, 1963) is an American former physician and convicted child rapist. For 18 years, he was the team doctor of the United States women's national gymnastics team. He used his employment as th ...

scandal, alongside advocates including

Rachael Denhollander Rachael Joy Denhollander (née Moxon; born December 8, 1984) is an American lawyer and former gymnast. She was the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor, of sexual assault. D ...

Aly Raisman Alexandra Rose Raisman (born May 25, 1994) is a retired American artistic gymnast and two-time Olympian. She was captain of both the 2012 "Fierce Five" and 2016 " Final Five" U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics teams, which won their respective tea ...

, Amanda Thomashow, Sterling Reithman, and Larissa Boyce. In 2018, she lost a rematch with McCann. In January 2019, she was elected as secretary of the Michigan Senate, only the second woman to have held that post.

References

External links

State House bio of O'BrienVote Smart profile of O'Brien
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Margaret 1973 births Living people Republican Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Michigan State University alumni People from Portage, Michigan Republican Party Michigan state senators Women state legislators in Michigan 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians