Updated: Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 6:03 p.m.

This post was written by Hatchet Reporter Eliza Lancaster.

Mount Vernon College for Women, BA, 1975
Running for reelection for California’s 26th district

Alumna Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Ca. was reelected to the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday night.

Running for her third term in office, Brownley earned 60 percent of the vote while Republican opponent Rafael Dagnesses came away with 40 percent with 48 percent reporting, according to the Associated Press.

Brownley graduated with a degree in political science from the Mount Vernon College for Women, which GW absorbed in 1975. She later earned a master’s in business administration from American University.

In 2015, Brownley introduced the Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act after learning of an alarming increase in female veteran suicides between 2000 and 2010. The act identifies best practices for ending female veteran suicides and was signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on June 30.

She joined the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education in 1994 and was elected to the California State Assembly in 2006. Continuing her commitment to education, Brownley pushed a bill that based schools’ funding on the needs of students rather than on schools’ overall attendance rates, according to KPBS Public Broadcasting.

Brownley attempted to ban plastic shopping bags in California but her legislation was struck down by the state’s senate in 2010, CNN reported.

This post was updated to reflect the following corrections:
The Hatchet incorrectly reported that this is Julia Brownley’s second Congressional term. It is her third. The Hatchet also reported that the Female Veterans Suicide Act gives female veterans better access to mental health care. It identifies best practices to end female veteran suicide. We regret these errors.