While many people are interested in the lives of the men considered to be 2016 GOP candidates, the biographies of their wives prove to be just as riveting.
Here are six women who could be serving the nation as first lady:
1. Heidi Nelson Cruz has all the ambition in business that her husband, Sen. Ted Cruz, has in politics. A managing director at Goldman Sachs in Houston, she has an MBA from Harvard. She has used her analytical abilities for the George W. Bush administration, serving in the Treasury Department and the National Security Council. She met her husband when they were both policy aides in Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign.
The couple’s two young daughters stay with Heidi when Ted is in Washington, D.C. She could become the ideal first lady for working moms. Her financial expertise could also help her husband’s campaign if runs in 2016.
2. Kelley Ashby has been married to Rand Paul for 23 years. They have three sons. Kelley has her own experience in politics, once working as a Republican consultant, and one of her clients was Ted Cruz.
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Ashby also knows the responsibilities of combining work with family. As a political consultant, she’s aware of what personal harm can come to a candidate and a family when announcing plans for the presidency. She’s not opposed to her husband jumping into the presidential race,
but noted to Vogue in an interview, “When I think of the tens of millions of dollars in opposition research that they’d be aiming right at us and our family—that’s what it’s about.”
3. Ann Romney, who worked relentlessly on husband Mitt’s 2012 presidential campaign, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis about 16 years ago, leading to her work with treatments for various diseases.
She’s helping to launch the Ann Romney Center for Neurological Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
The center will focus on MS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other diseases. Although another Romney presidential campaign in 2016 is questionable, Ann could provide national attention to neurological disorders as first lady.
4. Tonette Walker has been working right alongside her husband Scott in his role as governor of Wisconsin. Tonette has worked in the insurance industry for 20 years and for the American Diabetes Association.
As a first lady, she might continue the work she has done in Wisconsin through organizations that deal with trauma affecting the lives of children and families. She also helps adolescents going through substance abuse with Teen Challenge of Wisconsin.
5. Chris Christie’s wife, Mary Pat, also maintains the successful mixture of wife, mother, and first lady. A successful businesswoman with an master’s in business administration, she founded the nonprofit New Jersey Heroes, which recognizes heroic work by people and organizations. She and her husband organized the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund to help rebuild damaged communities.
6. Columba Bush, married for 40 years to Jeb Bush, kept a low profile when her husband was governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. She doesn’t consider herself a political person, but supports Jeb in his political ambitions. She has said she and Jeb are like an ordinary couple when they are at home. Jeb’s decision to run as a 2016 GOP candidate could depend on her thoughts, but she took on the role as first lady of Florida.
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