Donna Christensen

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Donna Christensen

|image = Donna christensen.JPG

|office = Chair of the Virgin Islands Democratic Party

|term_start = August 6, 2016

|term_end = August 4, 2018

|predecessor = Cecil Benjamin

|successor = Cecil Benjamin

|office1 = Delegate to the
U.S. House of Representatives
from the U.S. Virgin Islands's at-large district

|term_start1 = January 3, 1997

|term_end1 = January 3, 2015

|predecessor1 = Victor O. Frazer

|successor1 = Stacey Plaskett

|birth_name = Donna Marie Christian

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1945|9|19}}

|birth_place = Teaneck, New Jersey, U.S.

|death_date =

|death_place =

|party = Democratic

|spouse = {{marriage|Chris Christensen|1998}}

|education = St. Mary's College, Indiana (BS)
{{nowrap|George Washington University}} (MD)

}}

Donna Marie Christian-Christensen, formerly Donna Christian-Green (born September 19, 1945), is an American physician and politician. She served as the 4th elected non-voting Delegate from the United States Virgin Islands's at-large district to the United States House of Representatives from 1997 until 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, Christensen is the first woman to win the party’s nomination for governor in Virgin Islands history. She is the first woman to represent the territory in the U.S. Congress.

Biography

=Early life=

Born Donna Christian in Teaneck, New Jersey, she is the daughter of a Virgin Islands Federal District Court judge, Almeric Christian. She received her Bachelor of Science from St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana in 1966. Christensen then attended the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., where she received an M.D. in 1970.[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000380 Donna Christian-Christensen], Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved December 5, 2007. She interned at San Francisco's Pacific Medical Center from 1970 to 1971 and performed her residency in family medicine at Howard University Medical Center from 1973 to 1974.

=Career=

Donna Christian-Christensen worked as a physician, first in the emergency room and later in the maternity ward. She then served as medical director for the St. Croix Hospital in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. She was the Acting Commissioner of Health for the Virgin Islands in 1993 and 1994 and also ran a private medical practice until 1996.

Christian was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions from 1994 through 2012 elections. She has also previously served on the Status Commission and the Board of Education for the USVI.{{cite web |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/GPO-CDOC-108hdoc223-3-1.pdf |title=Women in Congress }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

She was also active in community organizations in the Virgin Islands, working to protect St. Croix from overdevelopment, and leading an effort to improve the quality of local judicial appointments.{{cite web |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/GPO-CDOC-108hdoc223-3-1.pdf |title=Women in Congress }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

U.S. House of Representatives

Donna Christian-Christensen ran unsuccessfully for the position of USVI delegate in 1994, losing in the primary to former judge Eileen Petersen. She won a three-way race beating Victor Frazer, an Independent. That race also included future Governor Kenneth Mapp, who would defeat Christensen in 2014 during the Governor race. However, she was elected as a Democrat to the House in a 1996 runoff with Frazer and served from January 3, 1997, to January 3, 2015.

Christian-Christensen has supported Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Shortly before the Supreme Court affirmed the legislation, she said "For 99 years, presidents have been trying to do this. Finally, our president has made it possible for each and every American."{{cite news|title=Awaiting Health Care Ruling, Leaders Tell What Black People Have To Lose|url=http://www.seattlemedium.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=114129&sID=3&ItemSource=L|access-date=29 June 2012|newspaper=The Seattle Medium|date=27 June 2012}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Donna Christian-Christensen is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. She was featured on The Colbert Report's Better Know a Protectorate segment. She is also the first female physician to win a congressional election.{{Cite web

| url = https://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_62.html

| title = Changing the Face of Medicine {{!}} Dr. Donna M. Christian-Christensen

| website = www.nlm.nih.gov

| access-date = 2016-02-26

}}

=Elections=

;2008

{{Main|United States House of Representatives election in the United States Virgin Islands, 2008}}

During the 2008 electoral campaign,[http://anibalgobernador.com/blog/?n=129] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008220411/http://anibalgobernador.com/blog/?n=129|date=October 8, 2008}} she appeared in a TV advertisement endorsing the reelection of neighboring Puerto Rico Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, who went to trial after the November 2008 elections for a twenty-four-count federal Grand Jury indictment for corruption.{{cite web |url=http://www.primerahora.com/noticia/otras/noticias/libre_sin_fianza_anibal_acevedo_vila/173083 |title= » Primera Hora - Libre sin fianza Aníbal Acevedo Vilá|website=www.primerahora.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216092205/http://www.primerahora.com/noticia/otras/noticias/libre_sin_fianza_anibal_acevedo_vila/173083 |archive-date=December 16, 2008}} The jury found him not guilty, though he did lose his bid for re-election.

;2010

{{Main|United States House of Representatives election in the United States Virgin Islands, 2010}}

Christian-Christensen won her 2010 reelection campaign with 71.22% of the vote.{{cite web |author=ALDETH LEWIN Daily News Staff |url=http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/christensen-re-elected-in-landslide-1.1059442 |title=Christensen re-elected in landslide - News |publisher=Virgin Islands Daily News |date=2010-11-04 |access-date=2012-07-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719001604/http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/christensen-re-elected-in-landslide-1.1059442 |archive-date=2012-07-19 }}

;2012

{{Main|United States House of Representatives election in the United States Virgin Islands, 2012}}

Christian-Christensen received substantial donations, at least $37,000, for her re-election from sources that are connected to Jeffrey Thompson, the chartered health services chairman. However, since he had recently come under fire for a scandal, this money may have been considered to be "pecunia non grata" (unwanted money). Soon after, Thompson's firm was awarded a $6.3 million government contract in the Virgin Islands, Christensen's home district.{{cite news |title= Thompson's money now poisonous to politicos|author= Mike DeBonis|url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/mike-debonis/post/thompsons-money-now-poisonous-to-politicos/2012/07/18/gJQAmCDXuW_blog.html|newspaper= Washington Post|date= 18 July 2012|access-date=16 August 2012}}{{cite news |title= Virgin Islands delegate got money from DC donor under investigation |agency= Associated Press |url= http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/04/virgin-islands-delegate-got-money-from-dc-donor-under-investigation-75070.html |access-date= 2012-09-16 |archive-date= 2012-04-23 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120423102800/http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/04/virgin-islands-delegate-got-money-from-dc-donor-under-investigation-75070.html |url-status= dead }}{{cite news|title= Jeffrey Thompson has $6.3 million Virgin Island contract|agency= Associated Press|url= http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/04/jeffrey-thompson-has-6-3-million-virgin-island-contract--75176.html|access-date= 2012-09-16|archive-date= 2012-04-23|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120423194033/http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/04/jeffrey-thompson-has-6-3-million-virgin-island-contract--75176.html|url-status= dead}} Nonetheless, Christian-Christensen won her 2012 re-election bid with 60.05% of the vote.

;2014

{{Main|United States Virgin Islands gubernatorial election, 2014}}

Christian-Christensen did not seek re-election to her congressional seat. Instead, she ran for Governor of the United States Virgin Islands,{{Cite web|url=http://stthomassource.com/content/news/local-news/2014/03/09/christensen-kicks-campaign-governor-running-mate-ottley|title = Christensen Kicks off Campaign for Governor with Running Mate Ottley|date = 9 March 2014}} ultimately losing to Kenneth Mapp in a runoff.{{Cite web|url=http://viconsortium.com/politics/kenneth-mapp-8th-elected-governor-united-states-virgin-islands/|title=Detail|access-date=2014-11-19|archive-date=2016-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202123736/http://viconsortium.com/politics/kenneth-mapp-8th-elected-governor-united-states-virgin-islands/|url-status=dead}}

=Committee assignments=

=Caucus memberships=

Congressional Black Caucus
Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues
Congressional Progressive Caucus
Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus
International Conservation Caucus
Congressional Arts Caucus

Honors and recognitions

On March 23, 2009, Delegate Christensen became the Ship Sponsor of the USCGC Reef Shark during the vessel's commissioning ceremony in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Reef Shark is a new 87' cutter, built at an approximate cost of $7.5 million by Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana.

In July 2023, the Legislature of the Virgin Islands passed a bill honoring Christensen for her tireless work of public service and renamed the Charles Harwood Memorial Complex on St. Croix, in her honor.