For Anne Udall, politics is all in the family

Charlotte's Anne Udall had a lot to celebrate on Nov. 4.

She was with her brother Mark when he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Colorado. The same night, her cousin Tom won a Senate election in his home of New Mexico. Both are Democrats.

Anne Udall (left), executive director of the Lee Institute, had spent the week before the election bouncing around Colorado on her brother's campaign bus with him and some of their other siblings. The night he won was emotional for them all.

"It was very humbling and exciting on a lot of different levels," says Anne, 54.

Mark Udall's campaign carried echoes of their father's races. The late Mo Udall was a liberal Arizona congressman who ran for president in 1976, losing the primary to Jimmy Carter.

"It reminded me of dad on a couple levels," says Anne. "One, I think Mark is really committed to this work and it really matters to him.

"The second thing that was really very moving to me was see this whole generation of 20-year-olds really committed to Mark's candidacy. And that’s what Dad did. ... These kids they don’t know Dad. He's a name in a book. But they know Mark and they have the same connection with Mark that I think our generation had with Dad. So that was really neat.”

The day after the election, Anne and her brother went for a hike in the Colorado mountains. "That's what Udalls do when they win," she told a reporter at the time. "We go outdoors. We hike."

Her cousin Tom is the son of Stewart Udall, a former Arizona congressman who served as Secretary of the Interior under presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Anne plans to go to Washington in January for the swearing-in. She expects a family reunion -- with one-fiftieth of the Senate in the family.