Ferraro, Geraldine Anne (furär'ō) [key], 1935–, American political leader, b. New York City. A Democrat from Queens, she served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1979–85). In 1984, as Walter Mondale's running mate, she became the first woman nominated for the vice-presidency by a major party. Allegations concerning her husband's business connections and questions about their tax returns were raised during the unsuccessful campaign, and these surfaced again in her narrow defeat in the 1992 Democratic senate primary. After a period as a television commentator and U.S. representative on the UN Human Rights commission, she again ran for the senate and lost (1998) the primary.
