Donna Rice Hughes was a figure in the sex scandal that ended the 1987 campaign of Gary Hart in the Democratic presidential primaries.

Early Years

The daughter of a highway engineer and secretary, Donna lived in Florida, Atlanta, and South Carolina. A self-described over-achiever, Donna Rice began a modeling career at age 13 and worked at getting straight A's in high school while attending church and working in clothing stores. She graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1980, where she was both an honors student and cheerleader. After winning the Miss South Carolina World beauty pageant, she went to New York city to compete in the national event. After not winning nationally, she remained in New York and pursued an acting and modeling career. In 1982, she moved to Miami, worked as a television actress, and for a pharmaceutical company and a small marketing business. It wasn't until March 1987 that she first met then-senator Gary Hart at a Miami fundraiser. [1]

After the Scandal

Donna met her future husband, Jack Hughes, on a blind-date in 1991, and they married in May 7, 1994 [2].

From 1994 - 1999, she worked as Communications Director and Vice President of "Enough Is Enough", a nonprofit organization dedicated to stopping illegal pornography, assisting victims, and making the Internet safe for children. [3]. In 1999, Rice Hughes was appointed by then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) to a congressional panel [4]. As of 2005, she is the volunteer president of "Enough is Enough" and has co-written a book entitled, "Kids Online: Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace" (ISBN: 080075672X ).