Kathleen Kane makes history by becoming first elected female attorney general in Pennsylvania's history

The supply chain made history on election night, albeit in an indirect way.

On Monday night, Kathleen G. Kane became the first woman and the first Democrat elected as attorney general of Pennsylvania. Prior to 1980, the attorney general was appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the state Senate. Since then, Republican men have always held the post.

Kane, a 46-year-old Democrat from Scranton, swept to victory with nearly 60 percent of the vote, defeating her Republican opponent, David Freed.

Kane is married to Christopher J. Kane, chief strategy officer at Kane is Able Inc., a family-owned warehousing, trucking, and third-party logistics firm based in Scranton. Kane is a blogger for DC VELOCITY and focuses much of his writings on advancing the model of "collaborative distribution" in the consumer packaged goods sector.

Under the model, suppliers serving a retailer are incented to build truckloads that can be consolidated in as few deliveries as possible. This approach, Kane believes, drives down supplier's shipping costs by allowing them to buy a portion of truckload space rather than using more costly less-than-truckload (LTL) service.

Kathleen Kane, who from 2007 to 2012 was an attorney in private practice, spent the previous 12 years as a state prosecutor. She touted her public-sector work during her campaign, promoting herself to voters as a dedicated public servant and not a career politician.

Kane was endorsed by former President Bill Clinton and by the Philadelphia Inquirer, arguably the state's most influential newspaper. She defeated her primary opponent, former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, in April.