Congressional politics at the end of the twentieth century
became more polarized, and for moderates, their plight
became unenviable. Constance A. Morella was one of a
shrinking group of moderate House Republicans who had
been numerous during the 1960s and 1970s. From the
outset, she built her career around her Maryland district,
but the 2000 Census offered an opportunity to recast her
constituency dramatically. At the same time she found herself
tied more closely to her party after the Republicans took
control of the House in 1995, making her vulnerable, as
Democrats recruited stronger candidates to run against her.
Constance Albanese was born on February 12, 1931, in
Somerville, Massachusetts, to Italian immigrants Salvatore
and Christina Albanese. Her father was a cabinetmaker, and
her mother worked in a laundromat. Constance Albanese
attended Boston University, graduating in 1951, and
marrying Anthony Morella in 1954. The couple moved to
Maryland, where she taught high school. Eventually, they
would have three children (Paul, Mark, and Laura) and help
raise Constance Morella’s sister’s six children (Christine,
Catherine, Louise, Paul, Rachel, and Ursula) after she
died. After receiving her MA from American University in
1967, Morella taught at Montgomery College in Rockville,
Maryland, from 1970 to 1986. Morella also became active
in community organizations and was soon serving in a
variety of public positions, finding herself attracted to the
Republican moderates, as represented by Governor Nelson
Aldrich Rockefeller of New York. She was a member of the
Montgomery County commission for women (1971–1975),
and in 1974 she ran unsuccessfully for the Maryland general
assembly. She was elected to the general assembly in 1978,
serving through 1987.
Morella’s first run for a seat in Congress took place in
1980. She ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination
against former Representative Newton Ivan Steers Jr. When
incumbent Representative Michael Darr Barnes announced
in 1986 that he was retiring from the House to make what
later was an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate, Morella
won the vacant seat over state senator Stewart Bainum Jr.
with 53 percent of the vote. The district covered much
of Montgomery County outside of Washington, with
more than 60,000 federal employees and the center of
Maryland’s technology industry. Having run on a platform
of strong ties to the district, backing from women’s groups,
and support for some elements of the Ronald Reagan
administration’s foreign policy, this election was crucial in setting her style as a House Member.1
A moderate
Republican had won election to Congress in a Democratic
state. “[The 1986] election shows that Montgomery County
voters are very independent,” Morella recalled. “It proves
that party label is nothing that’s going to keep people from
voting for a person.”2
High voter turnout in her hometown
of Bethesda also gave her the edge.3
Morella built her House career by emphasizing those
issues of greatest concern to her constituents. She also
developed an active district presence. “Three things are
certain in Montgomery County,” noted the Washington
Post in 1992, “death, taxes and Connie Morella showing up
for every small-town parade and public forum.”4
Morella
worked hard to establish a close relationship with her
district, developing a reputation for independence while
muting her party affiliation in the heavily Democratic
district.5
As a result, Morella was frequently on the other
side of major issues from the rest of her Republican
colleagues. “We’d like her to vote with us more often,”
Republican Representative Henry John Hyde of Illinois said
in 1990. “But to get elected she must reflect her district,
and she votes like her predecessors.”6
Her initial committee
assignments catered to her district’s greatest concerns:
the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service and the
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. During the
first part of her House career, she used these committee
assignments as the basis of her legislative activities in areas
such as federal pay, parental leave, and health care benefits
for the civil service. “And so my whole record shows that I
was sort of out-of-the-box, independent and, yes, kind of
issue-oriented,” she said.7
Morella’s ability to establish a close nonpartisan bond
with her district by serving the interests of her constituents
allowed her to win re-election by wide margins. In the early
1990s, Morella consistently won more than 70 percent of
the vote. This period of electoral popularity allowed her
to begin venturing into more policies that often built on
her committee assignments. She staked out positions on
health care, calling for more scientific research on cancer
and HIV/AIDS and affordable childcare programs. She
added a provision establishing an Office of Research on
Women’s Health to the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993.8
House colleagues called her the “angel of NIST”—the
National Institute of Standards and Technology, based in
the district.9
She took an interest in programs to combat
domestic violence and teen pregnancies. But Morella also
began venturing into less safe territory relative to her own
party’s legislative priorities. In contrast to many Republican
colleagues, Morella supported abortion and reproductive
rights. In 1992 she led an unsuccessful effort to remove
the anti-abortion plank at the Republican National
Convention. “I would like to move the party closer to the
center,” she said in 1993.10 While her stand gained her the
endorsement of abortion rights groups, Morella strongly
believed the issue went beyond politics. In 1996 she said of
abortion that “it has to do with one’s personal beliefs, and it
doesn’t belong on the agenda for politicians.”11
During her tenure in Congress Morella was frequently
mentioned as a possible nominee for governor or U.S.
Senator.12 She resisted, however, efforts to position herself
to be able to influence the direction of her party colleagues.
“Do I seek to be in leadership?” Morella told the Washington
Post. “No. I’ll be damned if I kowtow to anyone. I need the
independence. And you just don’t have that in leadership.
You have to do what they want.”13
When the Republicans captured the House after the
1994 elections, Morella’s status underwent a transformation.
Formerly a backbench Member of a minority party, she
became chair of the Subcommittee on Technology on the
renamed Committee on Science. Because the Republicans
eliminated the Committee on Post Office and Civil
Service, Morella became a member of the Committee
on Government Reform and Oversight, renamed the
Committee on Government Reform in 1999. Morella
later became the chair of its Subcommittee on the District
of Columbia during the 107th Congress (2001–2003).
Of her service as subcommittee chair, Delegate Eleanor
Holmes Norton of Washington, DC, said, “Everybody loves
Connie.”14 She also co-chaired the Women’s Caucus in the
104th Congress (1995–1997).
Becoming part of the majority was not cost-free for
Morella, however. Many of the new Republican Members
dismissed moderates like Morella as “squishy” and resented
the ability of the senior moderates to temper some of their
policy proposals.15 “See, I spent eight years as a minority in
the minority,” Morella recalled. “And I spent eight years as
a minority in the majority.”16 Meanwhile, the still-popular
Morella now confronted constituents who were unhappy
with what the Republican majority was doing—particularly
in the polarizing atmosphere developing between the
Republican Congress and Democratic White House. In the
late 1990s, Morella’s re-election margins began to erode. Her opponents became better known and more experienced,
and they had deeper financial pockets.17 Past supporters of
Morella began to listen sympathetically to the argument that
a vote for Morella was a vote to keep Georgia Representative
Newt Gingrich as Speaker. “What I saw,” charged her 1998
opponent Ralph Neas, “was someone who would vote
against the Republican leadership when it no longer made
a difference.”18 When the Republicans narrowly retained
their majority in 1996, the news that Gingrich admitted
to ethical violations led some Republican moderates to
refrain from voting for Gingrich as Speaker or to vote for
other candidates. Morella was among five Republicans
to vote “present.”19 In one of the major battles between
the Republican Congress and the Democratic President,
Morella joined a minority of Republicans who voted against
impeaching William J. (Bill) Clinton in 1998.20 She would
recall that Congress “did become more polarized, which is
really too bad.”21
The Maryland redistricting process before the 2002
elections helped erode Morella’s base. Her new district,
created by a Democratic state legislature, lopped off
Republican voters in the northwestern portion while adding
highly Democratic territory to the east. The core of her old
district (including Bethesda) that she retained was made
up largely of voters that were becoming more Democratic
over time.22 One state senator proclaimed, “If she runs,
she loses.”23 Morella agreed. “They wanted to gerrymander
me into retirement.”24 She was widely viewed as the most
vulnerable House Republican in the country.25 A potentially
divisive Democratic primary between state delegate Mark K.
Shriver, a member of the Kennedy family, and state senator
Christopher Van Hollen. held out the promise that Morella
would face an opponent with a depleted war chest.26 Both
national parties concentrated resources on the race, raising
$5.6 million, the most expensive race in Maryland history.27
Morella fell victim to one of the vulnerabilities of an
incumbent who relies on a close and familiar relationship
with the district: the vagaries of redistricting. “Don’t look at
me as a symbol,” Morella appealed to voters who continued
to like her but were unhappy with her party. “Look at
me.”28 Despite national and statewide Republican gains,
Van Hollen, the Democratic challenger with the greatest
legislative experience, eked out a 9,000-vote victory over
Morella in a race where more than 200,000 votes were
cast.29 “I had a flawless campaign,” she would recall later.
“Can you imagine—the only one I lost was flawless.”
Looking back, though, she remained philosophical about
her career. “It was a great privilege,” she told the Washington
Post a year later. “It was time for me to move on.”30
Morella returned to Montgomery County amid
rumors and talk that she would become a member of the
administration of President George W. Bush or of Maryland
Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. In July 2003, President Bush
nominated her to be U.S. Ambassador to the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development.31 After
assuming her post on October 8, 2003, she continued
to worry about the increasing polarization in Congress.32
Moderates, she mused, “have been endangered, and I hope
that changes.”33
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
[ Top ]
