Wiener was born in Nuremberg, Germany, and escaped the Nazi regime with her family in 1939. She had been an aide to a New York State assemblyman before moving to Palm Beach and winning her town council seat in 1988. Wiener, 60, had been a lifelong Republican before switching parties in December 1993. She ran as a Democrat in a GOP-dominated congressional district that runs like a sliver along the coastline from Miami to Juno Beach.