Who is Sen. Mikulski calling her ‘boyfriend’?

Sen. Barbara Mikulski has an affectionate nickname for her former colleague, and it isn’t “senator.”

The Maryland Democrat cried out, “Oh, there’s my boyfriend!” upon seeing former Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) at a gala last week for the National Women’s History Museum.

But Warner’s wife, Jeanne, need not fret. Mikulski, who isn’t married, explained to ITK that her 84-year-old “boyfriend” is just her buddy: “Sen. Warner and I were pals. We were pals across the Potomac.”

America’s longest-serving female senator, 75, reminisced about the days of serving in Congress together with her “boyfriend,” who left his seat in 2009: “We had dueling crab cake recipes, we fought for [the visa program] H-2B, we fought for America’s space program … He was one of the really good friends in the Senate. He showed we could work together.”

When ITK asked whether Warner was aware that she dubbed him her boyfriend, Mikulski replied, “Well, I lost my heart to someone else. But we’re still friends.”

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