Julia Boseman

Julia Boseman is an American politician and a former Democratic member of the North Carolina Senate. She represented the state's ninth Senate district, covering all of New Hanover County, from January 2005 to January 2011.

Early life and career

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

Public life

Boseman was elected to the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners in 2000. In 2004, she ran for the North Carolina Senate and beat Republican incumbent Sen. Woody White by a margin of only 885 votes, 50.55% to 49.45%. White had been appointed six months earlier to finish the term of Sen. Patrick Ballantine who had resigned from the senate in order to make an unsuccessful run for Governor.

In her first Senate term (2005–06), 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. The ratings were published by the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research (NCCPPR), which has published biennial surveys ranking the effectiveness of legislators based on the opinions of lobbyists, reporters and legislators themselves since 1978.

She was a candidate for re-election in 2006 and defeated her Republican opponent, Al Roseman, by a margin of 11,000 votes. Her 2008 re-election was closer, with Boseman taking 51.7% of the vote and winning by a margin of about 3,000.

In the 2008 presidential primaries, Boseman was an active supporter of Hillary Clinton. The North Carolina primary, coming late in the process, was unusually high-profile and Boseman travelled the state campaigning with Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. In January 2009, Bill Clinton returned the favor, hosting a fundraising reception for Boseman in Raleigh.^[1]

Boseman announced in 2009 that she would not seek re-election to a fourth term in 2010.^[2] Her senate term ended in January 2011 and she was succeeded by Republican Thom Goolsby.

Personal life

She is notable as the first openly gay member of the North Carolina legislature. On the day that Boseman left the legislature in January 2011, an openly gay man – Marcus Brandon (D–Greensboro) – was sworn into his first term in the North Carolina House of Representatives. They are the only two openly LGBT people to have served in the legislature.

Following her separation from her domestic partner, Boseman had her $1,300,000 home foreclosed on for failure to pay her mortgage in June 2008.^[3] In addition, $4,700 in county taxes were owed on the property, although these were later paid in full. During a child custody hearing while under oath, Boseman admitted to the use of marijuana in 2003, prior to being elected in 2004.

References