Age: 51
Occupation: State senator for the 4th District

Last year, the majority leader (who this year made an unsuccessful but profile-boosting bid to become Senate president) embraced colleagues on the floor in celebration. Her bill to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 — the culmination of a fight she’s been leading for a decade — had passed. Now she’s got her sights set on funding early childhood education.