Biography of State Senator Capri S. Cafaro

Ohio Senate, 32nd District

September 23, 2009

Capri S. Cafaro is a member of the Ohio Senate, representing the 32nd Senate District since January 2007. 

Cafaro, graduated from Stanford University with a BA in American Studies and from Georgetown University with a MALS with a concentration in International Studies. She has a long standing interest in public policy pertaining to health care and the needs of older adults. She has served on the Trumbull County Senior Services Advisory Council and was a State Policy Liaison for Ohio with the National Patient Advocate Foundation. She was also a State Advocate Representative for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare and served as a councilor for the Medicare Rights Center. Senator Cafaro has also acted as an Economic Policy Associate for Global Action on Aging, an NGO with consultative status at the United Nations. Additionally, as a participant in the Clinton Global Initiative, she developed a project on Anti-Corruption efforts in emerging democracies. 

One year after becoming a member of the Ohio General Assembly, Cafaro secured a leadership position as the Assistant Minority Whip for the Senate Democrats. In addition to her leadership roles, Senator Cafaro also served as the ranking member of the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee and sits on the Senate Health, Human Services and Aging Committee, Highways and Transportation Committee and still sits on the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee. 

As a member of the State Legislature, Senator Cafaro has also been called upon to serve on many of Ohio’s special committees, councils and taskforces. Such appointments include: the Ohio Arts Council, the Ohio Rail Development Commission, the Ohio Transportation Task Force, The Ohio Agriculture to Chemicals, Polymers, and Advanced Material Task Force (Vice Chair), the Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program Legislative Oversight Committee, the Ohio Advisory Council for the Aging, the Medicaid Administrative Study Council, the Unemployment Compensation Advisory Council, the Unified Long-Term Care Budget Workgroup, the Ohio Help Me Grow Advisory Council, the Household Sewage and Small Flow On-Site Sewage Treatment System Study Commission, the Ladies Gallery Committee, the Joint Legislative Committee on Health Care Oversight and the Ohio 21st Century Transportation Priorities Task Force. 

Senator Cafaro has also taken on a national leadership role and served as a Vice Chair of the National Conference of State Legislature’s (NCSL) Transportation Committee and a Midwestern Regional Member of the NCSL Women’s Legislative Network.

Additionally, State Senator Capri Cafaro was presented with the 2007-08 Legislator of the Year Award by the Ohio Association of Advanced Practice Nurses for her outstanding contributions to the practice of advanced nursing and advocacy of health care-related legislation. Recently, Senator Cafaro was awarded one of five MVP awards from the Mahoning Valley’s 40 Under 40 class of 2008, as well as one of the 2008 Liberty Historical Society’s Women of the Year. Cafaro also received a 2008 “Friend of Agriculture” award from the Ohio Farm Bureau. In December 2008, Senator Cafaro was selected by her peers to serve as the Minority Leader of the Ohio Senate for the 128th General Assembly. In 2009, Senator Cafaro gained recognition as Legislator of the Year from the Ohio Farmers Union, Ohio Am Vets, the Ohio Speech and Hearing Association and the Ohio Association of Area Agencies on Aging. 

Cafaro’s Senate District encompasses Ashtabula and Trumbull counties located in the Northeastern part of Ohio.

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