Beginning in the early 1960s, Woods began working as a writer, moderator, producer, and talk show host on local television stations.

Her political career began as a member of the University City Council in 1967, where she served for seven years, before being appointed to the Missouri Highway Commission in 1974 by then-Governor Kit Bond.

In 1982, she made a strong bid for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican John Danforth, a colleague of Woods's cousin, Howard Metzenbaum.

(a play on a similar slogan used by supporters of another Missourian, Harry S. Truman), Woods built a political presence in the state.

[2]: 656, 659  But she had problems in some traditionally Democratic areas, losing St. Louis County to Danforth despite living and working as a television producer and newspaper reporter in University City, a suburb of St.

Senator from Missouri led to the 1985 creation of the political action committee EMILY's List ("Early Money is Like Yeast").

In January 2001, Woods joined other Missouri Democrats in opposing John Ashcroft's nomination for U.S. Attorney General.