Amber "Holly" Boykins (born April 4, 1969) is an American politician. She represented a portion of North St. Louis in the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

. She is a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Boykins is a St. Louis native. She graduated from Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory High School in 1987 and from Columbia College in 1991. She is currently pursuing both an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

and a JD. Boykins was elected State Representative in 1998 in a closely contested Democratic

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

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and was elected without opposition in the

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 ...

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She was re-elected in 2000, 2002, and 2004. Due to

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of Term of office, terms a Incumbent, person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in Presidential system, presidential and Semi-presidential republic, semi-president ...

Boykins was unable to seek re-election in 2006. She announced her candidacy for the 4th District State Senate seat being vacated by

Pat Dougherty Patrick Dougherty (born June 30, 1948) is an American Democratic politician. Due to term limits, he retired from political life in 2007 after nearly 30 years of service in the Missouri General Assembly. Education and background Patrick Dougherty ...

. Other announced candidates were fellow State Representative Yaphett El-Amin, former State Representative Derio Gambaro, former St. Louis Alderman Kenny Jones, and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

professor Jeff Smith. The primary election was held on August 8, 2006, and was won by Jeff Smith, who was unopposed in the general election.

External links

State of Missouri page for Rep. Boykins
African-American state legislators in Missouri 20th-century African-American women politicians 20th-century American women politicians Democratic Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives Politicians from St. Louis 1969 births Living people Columbia College (Missouri) alumni Women state legislators in Missouri Delta Sigma Theta members 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century American women politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century members of the Missouri General Assembly {{Missouri-MORepresentative-stub