Charlotte Windsor

NS Nation Name: Vaquas

Character Name: Charlotte Windsor

Character Gender: Female

Character Age: 72

Character Height: 5’8

Character Weight: 130 lbs

Character Position/Role/Job:

69th Governor of Rhode Island (1977 - 1985)

United States Senator from Rhode Island: (January 3, 1985 - Present)

Democratic Senate Whip 2009 - 2015

Democratic Senate Leader since 2015

Appearance:

[img]https://www.caa.com/sites/default/files/styles/headshot_500x500/public/speaker-headshots/BoxerB_headshot_web.jpg?itok=vfm-qVmR[/img]

Character State of Origin: Rhode Island

Character State of Residence: Rhode Island

Character Party Affiliation: Democratic Party

Main Strengths: Politically ruthless/knows where the bodies are buried. Incredibly experienced and beyond reproach within the party and her state. Universal name recognition and status as a feminist icon. One of the strongest King-Makers in Democratic Politics.

Main Weaknesses: Extremely dry personality. Opportunist to the highest degree. Underperformance among men. Polarizing. Embarrassing Presidential Bid in 2004. Nasty rumors of mental instability + allegations of staff abuse.

Biography: Charlotte Julia Windsor was born on June 13, 1946 into an extraordinarily powerful and wealthy Old Money family in Providence, Rhode Island. Her father was the former United States Ambassador to France, her mother the daughter of one of America’s wealthiest stockbrokers. Needless to say, Charlotte was afforded every opportunity imaginable, an only child who had the repressed dreams of her mother and the outward expectations of her father to juggle as she sped towards adulthood.

Charlotte would attend Harvard University, where her father now oversaw the political science department, and graduate with high honors, entering Harvard Law shortly after and marrying into a similarly powerful family, the Bruschetts. The moment she was out of law school, Charlotte was brought into the law firm of one of her father’s friends, an extraordinarily prestigious business lawyer, and saddled with a massive case involving a high profile bankruptcy. Expected to fail by many of her colleagues, Charlotte dedicated herself to the case thoroughly, going days without sleeping at times and ultimately resolving the case quite favorably, earning her praise in the papers as a woman who really knew how to get things done. This would prove to be the case in future endeavors as well.

In 1976, shortly after the resolution of her case, Charlotte’s Husband, the Heir to the Bruschett name, would be pressured into eyeing a run for the wide open Governorship of Rhode Island, given his political activism and his family’s influence in Rhode Island Politics. He would use the family infrastructure to run for the seat, but his dreams would be dashed by a series of debilitating heart attacks brought on by a severe heart defect that left him barely alive. The Rhode Island Democratic Party needed a replacement, and surprisingly, Charlotte expressed interest in holding the office. She was largely scoffed at initially, there was no way that this 30 year old woman could possibly take up the mantle and function as an executive of an entire state, even one as small as Rhode Island. However, she soon made it apparent to party bosses that she would simply serve as an extension of her husband, and that if they rebuffed her bid she would simply run an independent campaign using her wealth and split the vote, ensuring a loss. They reluctantly cleared the way for her in the Democratic Primary, and following her nabbing of the nomination, shots began to be fired at the Republican Candidate.

State Senator Thomas Wilson’s campaign against Charlotte was dirty, with affiliates questioning her ability to lead as a young and inexperienced woman with “the charisma of a rock’s pet rock” as well as taking stabs at her perceived opportunism. She, however, would fight back just as hard, smearing Wilson as a barely literate imbecile that has stumbled his way into public office by the skin of his teeth and remained there by the grace of God alone. She attacked Wilson’s ties to the Nixon White House and blasted him as corrupt beyond belief and a disgrace to the State Senate’s chamber. There was no televised debate after both candidates declined to participate, and things looked rather close until a bombshell landed and destroyed the Wilson campaign 2 weeks before the election. A questionably sourced allegation accusing Wilson of sexual misconduct with upwards of 3 teenage boys was printed on the front page of the Providence Journal, drawing mass outrage and demands of an explanation from the Republican Candidate. Wilson stumbled in his response, unable to push out a coherent message after being completely blindsided by the accusations. His campaign fell into chaos, and Charlotte’s took advantage, with “unaffiliated” affiliates of the campaign rapidly buying ads depicting Wilson as a sexual predator at worst, and a misguided and creepy dolt at best. The race would be a solid win for Charlotte Bruschett, earning 59% of the vote in an unprecedented victory for a female candidate for public office. Thomas Wilson would commit suicide in his office 4 days following his loss, vilified and on the brink of divorce, and he would blame the Bruschett campaign in the note he left behind. Governor-Elect Bruschett would give a speech solidifying Bruschett’s image as a “troubled man” with “severe mental health issues that led to his untimely death.”, and this characterization would be widely accepted in Rhode Island political canon, though some political scholars have since vehemently rejected this characterization.

Charlotte Bruschett took office in January 1977 and served as governor until 1985, after being reelected in 1978 and 1980 before she oversaw a change in Gubernatorial term lengths and declined to run for reelection in 1984, opting to pursue the Senate instead. By the end of her (technically 3) terms, Charlotte was popular and influential, being dubbed “The Queen of Rhode Island” by The New York Times. Her 8 year Governorship focused on efforts to clean up pollution in Narragansett Bay, preserve open space for recreation, improve the care of children with developmental disabilities, improve programs for the elderly, transition mentally disabled people from institutions to home care, and attract high-tech business to the state.

The defining event of Charlotte’s governorship was the Great Blizzard of February 1978. The blizzard paralyzed the entire state with up to 56 inches of snow. The Governor lived in her office at the Rhode Island State House in Providence for three days until the crisis was under control. Garrahy was remembered for wearing a red and black plaid flannel shirt during the crisis, a move which drew disproportionate amounts of controversy and discussion. The shirt became widely associated with Bruschett; in 2000, she donated the shirt to the Rhode Island Historical Society, where it was placed on display. Charlotte’s response to the storm became a template for public officials reacting to similar situations. Bruschett’s calm demeanor and stoic determination provided comfort to many Rhode Islanders in distress during the blizzard's aftermath. Another moment came following the death of her husband shortly following her reelection in 1980, when she shed a single tear as he was lowered into the ground, polarizing the media into camps of an “Iron Lady” and a “Heartless Manipulator”. This Dichotomy of characterizations would not cease any time soon.

In 1983 Senator Clairborne Pell would be killed in a freak car accident on Christmas Eve, sparking immediate speculation that Governor Bruschett would spur an additional term as Governor to pursue the, sadly, open seat. Sure enough, In January of 1984 she declared her candidacy for the seat, the party rallying around her and Republicans resolving to field a woman against her. She would face off against Barbara Leonard and win 65% of the vote. Shortly following her victory, Bruschett would surprise many by abandoning her taken name of Bruschett and returning to the maiden name Windsor, a move that received substantial attention from the media and feminist writers, who began to see the ascendant Charlotte as a hero and role model.

Charlotte spent her first term in the senate building influence and carefully crafting a profile amongst her peers, often speaking in favor of bills at length in exchange for favors building up rapport with the old guard. She would be involved in most important bills during this time, and she would be reelected in 1990 against Claudette Schneiderhauser, winning 60.4% of the vote. Her tenure pre-2004 would be largely liberal, voting in line with that wing of the party consistently and being an early supporter of concepts such as Universal Healthcare and expanded gay rights. She would come to be well regarded in the caucus, not for her personality but for her strong work ethic and dedication to her job, ranking as one of the most effective legislators of the era. Her shining record made her one of the biggest stars in the Democratic Party, coasting to reelection in ‘96 and being considered a potential challenger to Bill Organ for the party’s nomination in 2000, though she decided against this was was reelected in 2002.

In 2004, her political luck came to an end. Hypothetical polls showing her trouncing President Burke and leading the Democratic field drew her out of her calculated shell and pushed her into a campaign that would be widely considered the worst Presidential Campaign in modern history. The campaign started off with a major gaffe, a terrible joke about the war in Iraq within her announcement speech falling completely flat and leading many on networks like Fox to characterize her as someone who “disrespects the troops” and is disconnected from the lived experiences of many Americans. She made many more gaffes as the campaign dragged on, but the final blow came when it was printed in the Wall Street Journal that she had engaged in an affair with the wife of NBC’s CEO, an allegation that was denied vehemently, but one that saw her drop out of the campaign a few weeks later, months before Iowa. It was an absolute humiliation, with one paper declaring that the “Iron Lady was made of Aluminum all along.” Her high profile beatdown had many feeling sympathetic, but also had many form an incredibly hostile opinion of Windsor that would last until present day.

Bruised and shaken, Charlotte resolved never to run for President again, and resigned herself to continuing her work in the Senate. She would keep up a substantial profile, opposing President Burke at every turn, but would only be truly politically revived after she developed an early attachment to Senator Rashid Baharia, supporting his candidacy in 2008 early on and becoming one of his most effective surrogates in New England and the Senate Caucus. After his victory over Diana Clifford in the primary, Windsor was treated as an “early adopter” and was raised back into prominence in the Senate, and following his ascension to the Presidency she was made Senate Majority Whip. As whip, she proved to be quite capable, having gathered much knowledge of her peers over the years and utilizing that to strongarm, talk, or buy them into voting appropriately.

In 2015 she ascended to become Majority Leader, and since then she has been at the forefront of American political discourse, supporting the remaining years of Baharia’s term and fiercely opposing every move President Wolf has attempted to make. In 2018, her more conservative detractors within the caucus were largely wiped out, making for a more smooth path forward in her leadership devoid of internal struggle.

Other Info: Has been the subject of many biographies, documentaries, and a movie based around her initial run for Governor of Rhode Island, her handling of the 1978 Blizzard, Her disastrous run for the Presidency and her career in the United States Senate. Subject of the “Windsor Body Count” Conspiracy that begins with the “assassination” of her husband. No partner. Officially came out as Lesbian during Pride Month, 2017.

I have read and accept the rules of the roleplay: Vaquas

Do Not Remove: 84721[/spoiler]