Maria Leavey

Maria Irene Leavey (January 1, 1954 – December 31, 2006) was an American independent political strategist. Little known to the public, she played an influential behind-the-scenes role in American progressive politics during the 1990s and 2000s. She had a brother and a sister, and took a job in 1968 at which point the family moved to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.

She attended Lock Haven High Schoo], where she was named a member of the National Honor Society as a sophomore. She graduated from there in 1971.

She then attended Trinity College in Washington, D.C. where she graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

In the early 1990s, she was involved in teaching American history at Penn State University. She also worked for the local public television station, WPSU-TV, in the early 1990s, interviewing candidates running for office and making a documentary about Harris Wofford, a Democratic Party politician who won the 1991 United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania. She was known for baking cookies for everyone from leading politicians to her postal worker. Her death was likely due to an undiagnosed heart condition that was hereditary in her family;

Legacy Because she had no regular job, she lacked health insurance;

Maria wasn't the type of person who would demand something for herself; she just sacrificed rather than put her allies in an uncomfortable situation. This was the case even with health insurance. She had many invaluable skills, but getting progressives to value her wasn't one of them. It is the disrespect towards people like Maria, a willingness to toss our best allies aside like unnecessary conveniences, that is our biggest moral flaw. I don't know if the new progressive movement matters, or if we're going to succeed. But what is very clear is that what we are doing is built on the willingness of people to sacrifice their lives and their time to work for change. ... Our priorities are really messed up. When our organizations and groups allow people like Maria to die for their lack of health care, while at the same time funneling hundreds of millions of dollars into TV commercials, it's really bad. If it continues, we will fail. It's that simple.

— Matt Stoller writing at MyDD, January 8, 2007

The Campaign for America's Future created an annual award in Maria's memorial named the Maria Leavey Tribute Award, in honor of the person they called "the quintessential unsung progressive hero ... [who] rarely received the recognition she deserved during her influential life." The sixth annual such award was given out in 2012; it is unclear if the award has continued since then. The Maria Leavey Memorial Breakfast Series, which connected elected officials with progressive bloggers, was also named after her and was held at least a couple of times.