Sharon Anne Shewmake (born May 19, 1980) is an American politician of the Democratic Party, and a professor of

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and Energy Policy at

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington, United States. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, s ...

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the county seat of Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It lies south of the Canada–United States border, U.S.–Canada border, between Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

. Shewmake represents the 42nd district in the

Washington State Senate The Washington State Senate is the upper house of the Washington State Legislature. The body consists of 49 members, each representing a district with a population of nearly 160,000. The State Senate meets at the Washington State Capitol, Legis ...

after serving two terms in the State House.

Career

Shewmake holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Davis, and Bachelor's degrees in both Economics and in Environmental Science and Policy from Duke University. Her academic work focuses on the economics of housing and transportation, the impacts of environmental policies, and microeconomics. Her publications have examined, among other subjects, the impacts of policies meant to reduce air pollution and congestion as well as how consumers respond to environmental labels, including labels for agricultural products.

Political career

In the November 2018 general election, Shewmake defeated four-term incumbent Vincent Buys for State Representative (Pos. 2) by 981 votes. She took office in January 2019. In 2020, she won reelection, beating Republican Jennifer Sefzik by 3,134 votes. Shewmake served on three committees in the State House. She serves as the Vice Chair of the Rural Development, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Committee and sits on the Energy and Environment Committee and the Transportation Committee. Her political work is focused on bringing down the cost of childcare and removing barriers to access, improving the economics of energy and energy transparency, as well as service to the agriculture industry. On November 19, 2021, Shewmake announced she was running to represent the 42nd district in the

Washington Senate The Washington State Senate is the upper house of the Washington State Legislature. The body consists of 49 members, each representing a district with a population of nearly 160,000. The State Senate meets at the Legislative Building in Olympi ...

. Shewmake advanced to the general election with 47% of the vote in the

blanket primary The blanket primary is a system used for selecting political party candidates in a Partisan primary, primary election, used in Argentina and historically in the United States. In a blanket primary, voters may pick one candidate for each office wit ...

, opposing incumbent Republican Simon Sefzik, her former opponent Jennifer Sefzik’s son who was appointed to the position in January 2022 following the death of State Senator Doug Erickson. In the general election, Shewmake defeated Sefzik by over 800 votes. Shewmake was sworn in on December 9, 2022.

References

Democratic Party members of the Washington House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Washington State Legislature Living people University of California, Davis alumni 21st-century American women politicians Women state legislators in Washington (state) 1980 births {{Washington-WARepresentative-stub