Since the beginning of large-scale Slovenian immigration to the United States in 19th century, Slovenian-Americans have contributed to their new homeland in many different ways. A number of them were elected to political office and several currently occupy high-profile positions of power.

Amy Klobuchar is considered one of the rising stars in the Democratic Party. The daughter of Jim Klobuchar, a prominent Slovenian American newspaper columnist from Minnesota, she was elected to the Senate in 2006 and became Minnesota’s first elected woman senator. She quickly acquired a reputation for effectiveness and maintained high approval ratings throughout her first term. That helped her to get reelected to the Senate in 2012 with an even wider margin than six years previously. Her popularity has prompted speculation that she may, one day, become America’s first woman president.

In Iowa, one state to the south, a senator with Slovenian roots once did run for the presidency. In fact, Senator Tom Harkin was an early favorite in the 1992 Democratic primary, but eventually lost to Bill Clinton. However, Harkin, whose mother – Frances Valentine Berčič – was Slovenian, is still one of the most respected members of the Senate and a high-profile defender of Democratic causes. He is also popular; after his defeat to Clinton, he was frequently mentioned as a possible Vice Presidential candidate. Harkin plans to retire in 2015, after 30 years in the Senate.

It was not retirement but a political defeat that ended the congressional career of Representative Jim Oberstar in Minnesota. Oberstar, who is partly of Slovenian descent, served in the House of Representatives for 36 years. During his tenure, he became most famous for his work on regulating the aviation business and his job-creation initiatives in low-income communities.

The previous occupant of Oberstar’s seat in the House of Representative also had Slovenian origins. John Blatnik was in Congress between 1947 and 1974. Before he became an elected politician, Blatnik served as the head of the U.S. military mission to Tito’s Partisans during World War II.

The seat once occupied by Oberstar and Blatnik was lost to the Democrats as a result of the 2010 conservative backlash that resulted in major Republican gains. Among those rejoicing the Republican victories was Ohio’s George Voinovich, one of the most prominent GOP leaders. Born to a Slovenian mother and a Serbian father, Voinovich began his political career in the 1960s. Over the decades, he served as the Mayor of Cleveland, the Governor of Ohio, and finally as a U.S. Senator until his retirement in 2010. In 1996, he was among the front-runners to become Robert Dole’s running mate but decided to run for Senate instead.

Voinovich’s career path resembled that of another popular Slovenian American politician. Frank Lausche, a Democrat, became the Mayor of Cleveland in 1941 and successfully ran for the governorship of Ohio three years later. He was Ohio’s first Catholic governor and later spent twelve years in the Senate. He is credited with helping to establish a coalition of ethnic voters that remained vital to the Democratic Party for years. He died in 1990 at the age of 94.

These and other high-profile political figures of Slovenian descent forever left their mark on the American political scene and, in the process, helped to shape the nation that had welcomed so many Slovenian emigrants over the years.