Julia Boseman

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Sen. Julia Boseman

Julia Boseman is an American politician and a Democratic member of the North Carolina Senate. She represents the state's ninth Senate district, covering much of New Hanover County. She was first elected to the Senate in 2004, having previously served four years on the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners. In 2004, she beat Republican incumbent Sen. Woody White, who had been appointed six months earlier to finish the term of Sen. Patrick Ballantine. Ballantine had resigned the seat in order to make an unsuccessful run for Governor. She was successfully re-elected in 2006.

She was born and raised in New Hanover County and attended the University of North Carolina Wilmington before going on to North Carolina Central University in 1992 for a law degree. She has been a practicing attorney ever since.

Since 1978, the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research (NCCPPR) has published biennial surveys ranking the effectiveness of legislators based on the opinions of lobbyists, reporters and legislators themselves. In 2005-6, Julia Boseman was ranked the 20th most effective senator (of 50), giving her the highest ranking ever for a first-term female senator and the second highest ever for a freshman.

She is notable as the only openly gay member of the North Carolina legislature.

She was a candidate for re-election in 2006 and defeated her Republican opponent, Al Roseman, by an unexpectedly large margin of 11,000 votes. In 2004, Boseman had won the seat by a margin of only 885 votes, 50.55% to 49.45%.