Fleur Toussaint-Garnier
Senator Fleur Toussaint-Garnier | |
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| Senior United States Senator from Maine | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1995 Serving with Susan Collins | |
| Preceded by | George Mitchell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Fleur Toussaint-Garnier December 2, 1948 Augusta, Maine, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
Senator Fleur Toussaint-Garnier (b. November 2, 1948) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. An independent caucusing with the Democrats, she has held her seat since 1995 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Congress, having served for nearly 28 years.
Born in Augusta, Maine, Toussaint-Garnier is a graduate of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts. She started her business, Fleur's Foodstuffs, in 1972. Toussaint-Garnier was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994. She was reelected in 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018; she is expected to seek reelection in 2024. Toussaint-Garnier is a senior Democratic woman in the Senate and the dean of Maine's congressional delegation. She has been called a moderate, a populist, and a centrist; at times, she can be a pivotal vote in the Senate. To date, Toussaint-Garnier is the second longest-serving woman in the Senate. She has become increasingly liberal during her tenure.
Early Life and Education
Fleur LeBeau Marie Toussaint-Garnier was born on November 2, 1948 to Cyril Toussaint-Garnier and Abigail DuBois. An old Acadian family, the Toussaint-Garnier line dated back to Port Royal 1605) in Nova Scotia, and back even further in France. The earliest known member of the family was Louis Toussaint Sr., a merchant and business magnate from Paris. His descendants largely worked as merchants and ship workers, with his modern descendants having gained their wealth in the 17th and 18th Centuries from hunting and trapping various game animals. In the 19th Century, the Toussaint-Garniers turned to a variety of fields, including lumber, fishing, and a shipping return. By the late 19th Century, the logging industry in the family had been replaced by fishing, with the Toussaint-Garnier family holding much control over Maine’s fishing industry until 1914. The family had built enough wealth, however, to last several generations; wise investments allowed them to build on their wealth as well.
Fleur was the eldest of nine children, serving as the heir apparent of the Toussaint-Garnier line. She took an interest in business early in life, starting her first annual lemonade stand at age 10. By 15, she had established a small series of lemonade stands that operated throughout the summer in Kennebec County (19 stands in all). She earned several thousand dollars that she proceeded to invest in expanding her mini-empire year after year, perhaps a small inkling of what was to come. Fleur was wealthy from birth, but not privileged; the silver spoon was withheld from her mouth, as it was all members of her family until she had proven her place as someone that would be beneficial to the Toussaint-Garnier Clan. Her father gave her a “loan” that she paid back in full with interest at age 19 before dissolving the company to obtain additional assets with which she could attend the college of her dreams: Harvard Business.
Fleur attended Harvard from 1966 to 1972. Cyril again loaned her money (also paid back, though with a lower interest rate). Determined to build a business and prove herself to her family, Fleur worked daily to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Business; she also obtained minors in International Relations and Government, believing that both would be beneficial to her business prospects depending on when and how she decided to expand her planned business. She developed close relationships with several of her professors and small business owners in Boston.
Fleur briefly worked for Edward Brooke’s reelection campaigns in the fall of 1966 while attending her classes, favoring his social and economic views over those of his opponent. She balanced this with a relatively empty schedule in her first semester, followed by extremely robust schedules for the rest of her academic career. In addition to obtaining a Doctorate in Economics and a Bachelor’s in Political Science, Fleur earned two minors (International Relations and Government) and an emphasis in American Politics.
Economic Career
After graduating in 1972 with honors, Fleur took out an additional loan– but from a bank rather than her father. She bought a storefront in Augusta and created Fleur’s Foodstuffs; by May 1973, she was making a reasonable profit and had started paying down her remaining loans to her father. In June 1974, she opened a second location in Bangor, and slowly her business (and economic prowess) began to grow. Despite the recessions of the Ford and Carter eras (where she voted solidly for liberal Republicans up and down the ballot, going so far as to cast her 1980 election ballot for John B. Anderson), Fleur continually made a profit. By 1985, she had 37 locations across Maine, 5 in New Hampshire, 3 in Vermont, and 3 in Massachusetts. In 1984, she cast her presidential ballot for Gerald Ford, whom she believed had been treated unfairly.
Fleur was very popular among her employees, being reasonable and meeting their needs while also making sure that her company would not go under. She was cautious but took risks when she found them reasonably. Because of her success, many Maine Republicans began calling on her to run for office. She declined, preferring to focus on the hundreds of workers that worked at her many business locations. As Fleur’s Foodstuffs became a growing, popular New England chain, she felt obligated to make sure that her workers had the best quality of life possible. In the early 1990s, the chain saw more success, totaling at 73 locations across New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. As the 1994 midterms approached, the incumbent Democratic Senator announced his retirement; (Olympia Snowe) declared a campaign to fill the seat. Though she did not initially want the job, Fleur was urged by her workers to toss her hat into the ring. After speaking with her family, she did just that.
First Senate Term
The 1994 Republican Senate Primary was hotly contested. (Snowe) and Fleur held a series of debates across the state, with Republican leadership divided over who to support. Business leaders and conservatives favored Fleur, though she was firmly against neoliberalism; liberals and establishment candidates favored (Snowe). However, this changed after the sudden, unexpected death of Cyril Toussaint-Garnier. After being stuck by lightning, the man was announced “DOA” after being rushed to the hospital via ambulance. (Snowe) attempted to issue remarks at a press conference, offering her condolences, but after she used the words “he dropped dead” to describe how sudden and unfortunate the incident was, her fortunes quickly turned. Mainers took this as an offensive statement, with many local papers calling it “uncouth” and “unkind” to utter the phrase. (Snowe) attempted to apologize, but the damage was done: Fleur was nominated 58-42.
The Republican nominee had been favored to win the election regardless, but the sheer margin was surprising given Fleur’s relatively little political experience. Taking 63.2% of the vote, it was a wipeout. She placed Fleur’s Foodstuffs in a blind trust in December 1994.
In her first term, Fleur joined the Main Street Caucus and served as the most vocal member of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee. Alongside many of her fellow Senators, she criticized President (Clinton) but voted against impeaching him. She voted in favor of passing a balanced-budget amendment but stated that “one will never pass in my lifetime.” By the end of her first term, the ACLU gave her a 63% on her voting record, indicating that she was liberal for a Republican but relatively moderate on civil rights issues. She voted present when it came time to appeal Glass-Steagall, saying that the “Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act does a lot of good, but it does a lot of harm.” She was criticized as being indecisive and accused of being too politically green to vote on such an important bill. “I’m an economist,” she replied. “The people of Maine elected me. If they don’t like my judgment, they can tell me that in the election.” As she was reelected with 66.8% of the vote in 2000, that seemed to be evidence enough that her judgment was trusted.
Second Senate Term
Beginning her second term with a Republican president in office, Fleur was excited to see just how much work she could get done. This was her first term where she took on some national importance as she created, sponsored, and passed the PATRIOT Act, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, The Help Americans Vote Act, the Medicare Modernization Act, FACTA, improvements to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Stolen Valor Act, and the JFPA. Her increasing activity likely contributed to her massive landslide victory in the 2006 midterms, earning 73.5% of the vote.
Third Senate Term
At the start of her third term, Fleur joined the Senate Judiciary Committee. She strongly supported both of (Obama)’s Supreme Court nominees, treating them as fairly as possible. She also supported the impeachments of Judges (Sam Kent) and (Tom Porteous). She supported the repeal of DADT and the establishment of the Dodd-Frank Act. Fleur famously stated, “There's a lot of talk coming from Citigroup about how Dodd-Frank isn't perfect. Let me say this to anyone who is listening at Citi: I agree with you. Dodd-Frank isn't perfect. It should have broken you into pieces.” This was criticized by many hard-line conservatives, but ever the economist, Fleur stuck to her guns. This resulted in Tea Party Republicans setting a primary challenge against her. Rather than risk defeat in the primary, though, Fleur announced she would run a campaign independent of either party. She focused on her tendency for political independence, bipartisanship, and principles; her opponents– a Tea Party Conservative and a Liberal Democrat– were not independent nor bipartisan, though she made no statements regarding their principles. She also campaigned on reclaiming Machias Seal Island, having introduced legislation every session that would strengthen America’s claim on the island for Maine’s lobster and fishing industry. She won with 53% of the popular vote, soundly defeating both parties. She left open which party she would caucus with, but as the Republicans practically ignored her, she joined the Democrats and has remained with them ever since.
Fourth Senate Term
Due to committee reshuffling, Fleur ended up on the Ethics, Judiciary, and Budget Committees. This was, in part, due to offers by the Democrats that appealed to her; it was also due to the newfound support she had found among the American people at large. She was called an “emerging national figure” by CNN, “a new hope for the American people” by MSNBC, and “a potential threat to the two-party system” by Fox News. Polls conducted by CNN in January 2016 indicated that in a match-up between (Hillary Clinton), (Donald Trump), and Fleur, she would place third but win at least 15% of the vote– enough for her to start a third party and attend the presidential debates. She denounced the idea of doing such a thing, saying “I will not be a spoiler– I will not go down in history as a spoiler.” She endorsed (Clinton) and (John Kasich). At the 2016 DNC, she endorsed the Democratic ticket whole-heartedly and (like most Americans) was shocked to see Trump win. “Is this really what we want to see out of America? Is this really where we want our nation to go?”
This was Fleur’s least active term, largely due to her inability to pass legislation due to Republican interference. Her only major victory was the Bipartisan Budget Act. When the GOP attempted to repeal (ObamaCare), she broke her ankle attempting to get to the Senate floor in order to cast her vote. She had been told by a Republican colleague that no votes were to be taken that day; in fact, the Republican had lied in an attempt to break her voting streak. She never named the Republican.
Fifth Senate Term
In 2018, she was reelected with 58.4% of the vote. A large number of social media sites and news anchors flirted with the idea of Fleur running for president, but she repeatedly refused to run. She was also speculated to be a choice for the vice presidency, but she claimed that “my home is in the Senate.” She was the first major endorser of (Amy Klobuchar) in 2020; she endorsed (Biden) when (Klobuchar) dropped from the race. After the election, some suspected that (Biden) would appoint her to the Cabinet as a unifying pick, but she was never in consideration due to Maine’s shifting status towards becoming a swing state.
On January 6, she was one of the Senators present to verify the 2020 election. When the Capitol was stormed, she made a live call to CNN, checking in every half hour or so to verify that no Senators had been hurt. Repeatedly, Fleur described her anger with Republicans, her fury with (Trump), and her horror at what the party she had once called home had become. “I’m glad I got out when I did,” she said. “I’m glad that I was never Nazified. I’m glad that I’ll never be like (Trump).” After the insurrection had ended, she called loudly and proudly for Congress to continue to verify the results of the election, denouncing anyone that voted to invalidate the results as “a traitor to America that ought to be impeached and removed from office immediately.” She has repeatedly cited the 14th Amendment as grounds for impeachment for many federal officials, including (Clarence Thomas). Fleur has sponsored the American Rescue Plan, the PACT Act, the CHIPS Act, and the BSCA in 2021.
Despite her harsh criticisms of the GOP and her increasingly progressive-populist policies, Fleur remains a nationally popular figure (59 approve, 41 disapprove– a net positive of 18 points). Currently, she is a strong supporter of (Biden) for reelection, but she fears that the party may collapse if the next primary is too competitive. Though a presidential bid has been speculated to come from her for some time, the media has, for once, decided she is not an option. It is unclear whether this is beneficial or not.
In 2021, Fleur campaigned in New Jersey, California, and Virginia for gubernatorial races; Georgia for Senate elections; and New York City’s mayoral race. In 2022, Fleur has campaigned across Texas, Florida, New Hampshire, New York, New Hampshire, Iowa, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia for various races. She has also campaigned in Alaska for (Lisa Murkoski) and (Mary Peltola). She has also attacked various Republican candidates, especially Senate candidates in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Wisconsin. Fleur has also run attack ads in Florida, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Alaska attacking far-right Republicans.
Regarding the changes being made to the 2024 Democratic primaries, Fleur has suggested that it would be wise to make Texas, Georgia, California, and New Hampshire the first four states– though not necessarily in that order. “The Sun Belt is important, that’s the future of the party– but New England is important, too. To save democracy, we need them both.”
Personal Life
In 2021, Rita (Fleur’s youngest sister) unexpectedly died. Adonis Boudreaux, Rita’s husband, “took to the bottle,” to use his own words. Fleur took in all of Rita’s children living at home. The youngest of these, Aurora, still lives with “Tante Fleur.” Aurora is 15 and is homeschooled by private tutors; she travels with her aunt between Maine and Washington. Her other siblings are spread across New England, much like the rest of the family. Fleur has become increasingly liberal since adopting her niece; progressives have suspected that this may be because she is starting to understand the needs of the next generation, perhaps giving her an opening among young people.