State House of Representatives at the age of 28. She defeated George Dahlquist 54%–46%. In 1988, she was reelected with 66% of the vote. In 1990, she was reelected to a third term with 61% of the vote. Tenure As a state representative, Cantwell helped write Washington's Growth Management Act of 1990, which required cities to develop comprehensive growth plans, and she negotiated its passage. She also worked on legislation regulating nursing homes. Cantwell resigned on January 3, 1993, in preparation to be sworn in as a member of the United States House of Representatives. Committee assignments Growth Strategies Commission U.S. House of Representatives (1993–1995) Elections 1992 In the November election, Cantwell defeated Republican State Senator Gary A. Nelson 55%–42%. She became the first Democrat elected to the United States House of Representatives from Washington's first congressional district in 40 years. 1994 Republican Rick White defeated Cantwell 52%–48% in the 1994 United States House of Representatives elections. Before that year's "Republican Revolution", eight of the nine representatives from the Washington state delegation were from the Democratic Party. After the election, five Democratic representatives from Washington state lost their positions, despite running for re-election, including Cantwell, future governor Jay Inslee, and Speaker of the House Tom Foley. Tenure Cantwell was called a "savvy, pro-business Democrat". She supported President Clinton's 1993 budget, which raised taxes and passed without the votes of many Democrats. During her only term, she helped persuade the Clinton administration to terminate its support of the Clipper chip. She wrote a letter to Vice President Al Gore and staunchly opposed it because Microsoft Inc. was in her district. She voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Committee assignments Public Works Foreign Affairs Merchant Marine and Fisheries Private sector employment (1995–1999) After her defeat, Cantwell vowed to leave politics. Political ally Rob Glaser offered her a job as vice president of marketing for RealNetworks. Among her accomplishments was the live Internet streaming broadcast of a Mariners-Yankees baseball game in 1995, which marked the start of Internet broadcasts of Major League Baseball games. In 1998, the company was criticized by privacy groups, which alleged that the RealJukebox software program incorporated spyware to track unsuspecting users' listening patterns and download history. In response, RealNetworks amended its privacy policy to fully disclose its privacy practices regarding user listening patterns. Subsequently, RealNetworks submitted to independent outside audits of its privacy practices. Several