Stephanie Anne Flowers (born August 8, 1953) is an American attorney and Democratic politician, serving in public office since 2004. Flowers started in politics when she was elected in 2004 to the District 17 seat in the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...

. In 2011, she was elected to the

Arkansas State Senate The Arkansas State Senate is the upper branch of the Arkansas General Assembly. The Senate consists of 35 members, each representing a district with about 83,000 people. Service in the state legislature is part-time, and many state senators have ...

where she remains presently. Flowers graduated from

Philander Smith College Philander Smith University (previously Philander Smith College) is a private historically black college in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is a founding member of the United Negro College Fund (UNC ...

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

and the

Thurgood Marshall School of Law The Thurgood Marshall School of Law (TMSL) is the ABA-accredited law school of Texas Southern University, a historically Black public university in Houston, Texas. It awards Juris Doctor and Master of Law degrees. Thurgood Marshall School of L ...

, then known as

Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically Black university in Houston. The university is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund an ...

School of Law, in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. She became active in politics after returning to

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff, officially the City of Pine Bluff, is the List of municipalities in Arkansas, tenth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County, Arkansas, Jefferson County. The population of the city wa ...

, where she joined the Democratic Party and established a private law practice.

Elections

*2004 Initially in State House District 17; Flowers won the 2004 Democratic primary and ran unopposed for the November 2, 2004 general election. *2006 Flowers was unopposed for both the 2006 Democratic primary and the November 7 general election. *2008 Flowers was unopposed for both the May 20, 2008 primary and the November 4 general election. *2010 With District 5 Senator Hank Wilkins running for the House District 17 seat, Flowers ran for the open District 5 State Senate seat, won the May 18, 2010 Democratic primary with 4,798 votes (56.2 percent) and was unopposed for the November 2, 2010 general election. *2012 Redistricted to District 25. Following the retirement of state Senator Percy Malone, Flowers won the May 22, 2012 Democratic

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

with 4,718 votes (58.5 percent) against fellow state Representative Efrem Elliott. She swept the November 6, 2012

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

with 19,955 votes (82.8 percent) against

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

candidate David Dinwiddie.

Family

Stephanie Flowers was born to Margaret Brown Flowers, an educator, and William Harold Flowers, a notable attorney who pioneered desegregation of the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville, AR. Her relative, Vivian Flowers, serves in the Arkansas House of Representatives for the 65th district and previously District 17.

Early career

After graduating from Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Flowers returned to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where she entered into private practice. Flowers served as a deputy prosecutor for the juvenile court in Jefferson County, Arkansas and has been a practicing lawyer for over 30 years.

Senator Flowers

Committee memberships

Stephanie Flowers serves as Vice Chair on the Arkansas Senate Judiciary Committee and on the Joint Budget Claims Committee. Flowers also serves as a member on the following committees: Arkansas Legislative Council, Joint Budget Committee, City, County & Local Affairs Senate Committee, Joint Energy Committee, Children and Youth Senate Committee, and the Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus.

Policy

Gun control and Senate Bill 484 (2019)

Flowers went viral in early 2019 when she made passionate remarks about debate on Senate Bill 484, which removed the "duty to retreat" portion of the

Stand Your Ground A stand-your-ground law, sometimes called a "line in the sand" or "no duty to retreat" law, provides that people may use deadly force when they reasonably believe it to be necessary to defend against certain violent crimes (right of self-defense ...

law being presented before the Senate Judiciary Committee. As discussion before the Committee about the bill surpassed two hours, there was a motion to limit commentary to 10 minutes per person. As the only black member of the Committee, Flowers defended the right of citizens to debate the bill, remarking that people like her son don't "walk the same path." Coverage of the remarks especially focused on Flowers's response to Senator Alan Clark after he cautioned her to stop yelling: "What the hell you going to do, shoot me?"

References

External links

"Stephanie Flowers" Official page

Arkansas General Assembly The General Assembly of Arkansas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house Arkansas Senate with 35 members, and the lower Arkansas House of Representatives with 1 ...

*
Stephanie Flowers

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Stephanie Flowers
National Institute on Money in State Politics {{DEFAULTSORT:Flowers, Stephanie 1953 births Living people Philander Smith University alumni Thurgood Marshall School of Law alumni Arkansas lawyers Democratic Party Arkansas state senators Democratic Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Arkansas General Assembly People from Newton County, Arkansas Politicians from Pine Bluff, Arkansas Women state legislators in Arkansas American women lawyers American lawyers African-American state legislators in Arkansas 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American women politicians 20th-century American women politicians