Julie Willoughby is an American politician and ER nurse from

Chandler, Arizona Chandler is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the List of municipalities in Arizona, fourth-most populous city in Arizona ...

. A Republican, she is a member of the

Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Arizona Senate, Senate. The House convenes in the le ...

and took office on May 5, 2023. Willoughby was appointed in May 2023 from the 13th legislative district, which includes much of Chandler and the entirety of Sun Lakes. Willoughby originally ran for office in 2018 and lost in the primary to Jeff Weninger and Nora Ellen Mesnard (mother of

J.D. Mesnard Javan Daniel "J. D." Mesnard (born May 15, 1980) is an American politician and a Republican member of the Arizona Senate representing District 13 since 2023. He previously represented District 17 from 2019 to 2023. Mesnard spent eight years as ...

). Four years later, in 2022, she ran again and won the Republican primary election alongside Liz Harris. Willoughby would go on to lose the general election, placing third to Harris and Jennifer Pawlik. After Harris was expelled from the

, Willoughby was one of three names submitted to the

Maricopa County Board of Supervisors The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is the governing body of Maricopa County, a county of over four million in Arizona. The five supervisors are each elected from single-member districts to serve four-year terms. Partisan primary, Primary el ...

to be appointed to replace Harris. In a 4–1 vote, the Board of Supervisors selected Willoughby and she was sworn in the same day. She won in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

alongside Jeff Weninger. Willoughby appeared as an emergency room nurse in a 2024

swing state In United States politics, a swing state (also known as battleground state, toss-up state, or purple state) is any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often refe ...

political issue ad for the

Preserve America PAC Preserve America PAC is a single-candidate Super PAC that supported Donald Trump in the 2024 United States presidential election. Primarily funded by Sheldon and Miriam Adelson in 2020, and by Miriam Adelson after her husband's death, the Super ...

, campaigning against the Biden/Harris administration's response to illegal immigration at the

Mexico–United States border The international border separating Mexico and the United States extends from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from urban areas to deserts. It is the List of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willoughby, Julie Women state legislators in Arizona Living people Republican Party members of the Arizona House of Representatives Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the Arizona State Legislature 21st-century American women politicians