• Faith: Christian
• Career: Politician
• Birthday:  October 26, 1947

Hillary Clinton is a diplomat and politician who served as the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a U.S. senator representing New York from 2001 to 2009, and as the first lady of the U.S. to President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001. As a member of the Democratic Party, she was the party’s nominee in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, becoming the first woman to win a presidential nomination by a major U.S. political party and the first woman to win the popular vote for U.S. president.

Raised in Park Ridge, Illinois, Clinton graduated from Wellesley College in 1969 and from Yale Law School in 1973. After serving as a congressional legal counsel, she moved to Arkansas and, in 1975, married Bill Clinton, whom she had met at Yale. In 1977, she co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. She was appointed the first female chair of the Legal Services Corporation in 1978 and became the first woman partner at Little Rock’s Rose Law Firm the following year. The National Law Journal listed her twice as one of the hundred most influential lawyers in America.

Clinton was the first lady of Arkansas from 1970 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1992. As the first lady of the U.S., she advocated for healthcare reform. In 1994, her health care plan failed to gain approval from Congress. In 1997 and 1999, Clinton played a leading role in advocating the creation of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Adoption and Safe Families Act, and the Foster Care Independence Act. She also advocated for gender equality at the 1995 World Conference on Women. In 1998, Clinton’s marital relationship came under public scrutiny during the Lewinsky scandal, which led her to issue a statement that reaffirmed her commitment to the marriage.

Clinton was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000, becoming the first female senator from New York and the first first lady to hold elected office simultaneously. As a senator, she chaired the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee from 2003 to 2007. She advocated for medical benefits for September 11 first responders and supported the resolution authorizing the Iraq War in 2002 but opposed the surge of U.S. troops in 2007. Clinton ran for president in 2008 but lost to Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries. After resigning from the Senate to become Obama’s secretary of state in 2009, she established the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. She responded to the Arab Spring by advocating the 2011 military intervention in Libya but was harshly criticized by Republicans for the failure to prevent or adequately respond to the 2012 Benghazi attack.

She helped to organize diplomatic isolation and a regime of international sanctions against Iran in an effort to force it to curtail its nuclear program, which eventually led to the multinational Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015. Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary was the subject of intense scrutiny. While no charges were filed against Clinton, the email controversy was the most covered topic during the 2016 presidential election.

What religion is Hilary Clinton?

Hillary Clinton has been a lifelong Methodist and has been part of the United Methodist Church throughout her life. She’s publicly discussed her Christian faith on several occasions, although rarely while campaigning. Professor Paul Kengor, author of God and Hillary Clinton: A Spiritual Life, has suggested that her political positions are rooted in her faith.