Joyce Woodhouse (born 1944) is an American politician and a former member of the
Nevada Senate
The Nevada Senate is the upper house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of U.S. state of Nevada, the lower house being the Nevada Assembly. It currently (2012–2021) consists of 21 members from single-member districts. In the pr ...
. She represented the
5th district District 5, 5 District or 5th District may refer to:
Europe
* District 5 (Zürich)
* District 5, Düsseldorf
* V District, Turku
* Districts of Malta#District 5, District 5, an electoral district of Malta
* Districts of Malta#District 5 2, Distric ...
from 2006 to 2010 and then from 2012 to 2019, when she became unable to run for re-election due to term limits.
Early life
Woodhouse was born in
Wibaux, Montana
Wibaux ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Wibaux County, Montana, United States. It is the only incorporated town in Wibaux County. The population was 589 at the 2020 census.
History
The town originally had names such as Keith, Beaver, a ...
, in 1944.
She was the oldest of five daughters and grew up on her father's
Hereford cattle
The Hereford is a British breed of beef cattle originally from Herefordshire in the West Midlands of England. It has spread to many countries – there are more than five million purebred Hereford cattle in over fifty nations worldwide. The bre ...
ranch. She attended
Carroll College, where she received a bachelor's of arts degree in elementary education, and then the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...
, where she received two masters' degrees in curriculum and instruction and in educational leadership. She worked as a teacher, an elementary school principal and a program administrator. She was married to Al Wittenberg.
She worked as a legislative lobbyist for the Nevada State Education Association.
Political career
Woodhouse was first elected to the
Nevada Senate
The Nevada Senate is the upper house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of U.S. state of Nevada, the lower house being the Nevada Assembly. It currently (2012–2021) consists of 21 members from single-member districts. In the pr ...
in November 2006, holding office until November 2010.
She faced no opposition in the 2012 Democratic primary for the
5th Senate district and went on to challenge Republican Steve Kirk in the general election.
She focused on the economy and education in her campaign,
and won the election by 51.96% to 48.04%.
Woodhouse faced Nicholas Lash, a political newcomer inspired by senator and presidential candidate
Bernie Sanders, in the 2016 Democratic primary.
She won with 85.48% of the vote,
and faced Republican
Carrie Buck and Libertarian Tim Hagan in the general election.
Woodhouse out-raised Buck by $500,000 to $140,000, and won re-election by less than one percentage point, winning by 47.89% to 47.03%.
In 2017, Woodhouse and fellow state senators
Nicole Cannizzaro
Nicole Jeanette Cannizzaro (born January 19, 1983) is an American Democratic politician currently serving in the Nevada Senate. She represents the 6th district, which covers parts of Las Vegas.
Biography
Cannizzaro was born in Las Vegas. She re ...
and
Patricia Farley
Patricia Farley (born June 1974) is a former member of the Nevada Senate, representing the 8th district from 2014 until 2018. She was first elected to the chamber as a Republican, but switched her partisan registration to Nonpartisan
Nonpa ...
faced a recall effort led by Republican
Stephen Silberkraus
Stephen Silberkraus (born April 4, 1981) is a Republican former Nevada Assemblyman representing District 29, which covers Green Valley and downtown Henderson. Silberkraus received nearly 55% of the vote in the 2014 general election defeating De ...
.
The state Democratic party sued, stating that 5,500 signatures on the petition were invalid, as the result of people signing who were not registered to vote in Woodhouse's district or people who later asked to have their signatures removed. A separate lawsuit was filed by the party challenging the validity of the recall itself, led by lawyers
Marc Elias
Marc Erik Elias (born February 1, 1969) is an American Democratic Party elections lawyer. In 2021, he left his position as a partner at Perkins Coie to start the Elias Law Group.
Elias served as general counsel for the Hillary Clinton 2016 pre ...
and Bradley Schrager.
In April 2018, Secretary of State
Barbara Cegavske declared that the recall effort had failed to receive enough signatures following a recount.
She was co-minority whip in 2016 and then became the co-majority whip in 2017 and the chief majority whip in 2019.
References
External links
Project Vote Smart - Senator Joyce Woodhouse (NV)profile
*''Follow the Money'' - Joyce Woodhouse
2006campaign contributions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodhouse, Joyce
Democratic Party Nevada state senators
1944 births
Living people
Women state legislators in Nevada
People from Glendive, Montana
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians