Stephanie Anne Flowers (born August 8, 1953) is an American

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

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 State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the ...

. In 2011, she was elected to the Arkansas State Senate where she remains presently. Flowers graduated from Philander Smith College in

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

and the

Thurgood Marshall School of Law The Thurgood Marshall School of Law (TMSL) is an ABA-accredited law school in Houston, Texas, that awards Juris Doctor and Master of Law degrees. It is part of Texas Southern University. Thurgood Marshall School of Law is a member-school of the Th ...

, then known as

Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,000 ...

School of Law, in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. She became active in politics after returning to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 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 W. Percy Malone (born August 23, 1942) is an American politician, pharmacist, and businessman. Born in Rosedale, Mississippi, Malone graduated from University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy in 1965. He is a pharmacist and president of W. P. Mal ...

, 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 Works * ...

with 4,718 votes (58.5 percent) against fellow state Representative

Efrem Elliott Efrem is a village in the municipality of Madzharovo, in Haskovo Province, in southern Bulgaria. History In the past, Efrem (known until 1906 as Urumkioy) was inhabited by Greek population. The local Greeks emigrated to Greece (mainly to the v ...

. She swept the November 6, 2012

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

with 19,955 votes (82.8 percent) against

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

candidate David Dinwiddie.

Family

Stephanie Flowers was born to Margaret Brown Flowers, an educator, and

William Harold Flowers William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

, a notable attorney who pioneered desegregation of the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville, AR. Her relative,

Vivian Flowers Vivian Flowers is a state legislator in Arkansas. She serves in the Arkansas House of Representatives and is a Democrat. She is a graduate of the University of Arkansas. She lives in Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest cit ...

, 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 "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 100 ...

*
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 African-American women in politics Philander Smith College alumni Thurgood Marshall School of Law alumni Arkansas lawyers Democratic Party Arkansas state senators Democratic Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives 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 politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women