About Shawnna

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Shawnna Bolick serves as an Arizona State Senator representing Legislative District 2, appointed in July 2023. She ran for re-election in 2024 to serve a two-year term. She currently chairs the Senate Committee on Regulatory Affairs & Government Efficiency and serves on the Judiciary & Elections, Ethics and Finance Committees. She is known for her work on public safety, justice reform, election integrity, and responsible governance. Before joining the Senate, she served two terms in the Arizona House of Representatives (elected 2018, re‑elected 2020), where she sponsored legislation focused on education accountability, criminal justice reform, and strengthening oversight across state programs.

Shawnna’s career spans more than two decades in education policy, school choice advocacy, and public‑sector reform. She has worked with the Arizona Charter School Association, the Goldwater Institute, the Alliance for School Choice, and the Arizona School Choice Trust, helping expand access to high‑quality educational opportunities for Arizona families. Earlier in her career, she served as a policy researcher at The Heritage Foundation on the No Excuses project and worked on Capitol Hill for U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. She also helped oversee the Advisory Council on the Digital Economy under Texas Lt. Gov. Rick Perry.

Her commitment to public service began early. While attending Syracuse University, she volunteered in the city’s inner‑city neighborhoods, helping adults earn their GEDs and mentoring youth through a Little League program. She later worked in a New York City public high school before completing her B.A. in Policy Studies at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, concentrating in education and environmental policy. She pursued graduate coursework at American University while working in Washington, D.C.

Shawnna has also served in several voluntary education governance roles, including as a corporate board member at her children’s elementary school, a school board member for BASIS Scottsdale, and a director on the BASIS Texas Schools Governing Board.

Throughout her legislative service, Shawnna has collaborated with diverse coalitions to advance bipartisan criminal‑justice reforms. She has also been active in public health policy, consumer protection, and strengthening accountability within Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program.

Shawnna lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her family and their three greyhounds. She is deeply engaged in her community.