When Marjorie Holt entered Congress in 1973, she joined what seemed to be a permanent minority. The previous period of Republican control lasted only two years, and ended with the 1954 elections. Holt’s party would not return to the majority until 1995, long after she would leave the House. But, unlike many of her colleagues, she did not come to Congress to pad her resume and simply vote no against the Democratic agenda. Entering Congress at age fifty-two, she was interested in advancing policies and making a difference. Doing so would be a challenge.

Holt came from Maryland’s heavily Democratic 4th district, which included Annapolis and parts of Anne Arundel County. Yet, rather than taking stands that were immediately popular with majorities back home, Holt staked out the conservative positions that she felt were right for the country and then tried to win over her constituents and congressional colleagues. She supported prayer in schools, opposed school busing for desegregation purposes, and advocated for constrained budget growth. In a strongly Democratic Congress, she described her first term as “swimming through the sharks.” But she supported Democratic initiatives when she could, partly in the hopes of building bipartisan support for her own proposals, proclaiming, “As they say in my state’s lottery, ‘You’ve got to play to win.’” Continuing her attempts to “win,” Holt stuck with her proposals, even upon initial failures.