John Nichols Boozman ( ; born December 10, 1950) is an American politician and former optometrist serving as the senior United States senator from Arkansas, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. representative for from 2001 to 2011. He is the dean of Arkansas's congressional delegation.
Boozman was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, where his father was stationed with the U.S. Air Force, but the family eventually returned to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he was raised. He is the brother of the late state senator Fay Boozman. He attended the University of Arkansas, where he played football for the Arkansas Razorbacks, and later graduated from the Southern College of Optometry. He co-founded a private optometry clinic in 1977 and worked as a volunteer optometrist for low-income families. He won a special election in 2001 to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served as assistant majority whip and sat on the Republican Policy Committee. He was an advocate for drug policy issues and chaired the Veterans' Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee, where he led the passage of bills expanding services for unemployed veterans.
Boozman was elected to the United States Senate in 2010, defeating Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln by a 21-point margin and becoming the first Republican to be elected to the seat since Reconstruction. He took office in January 2011 and is the ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management, and Trade and the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies. He is also a senior member of the United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Boozman became the senior senator from Arkansas in 2015 when Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor left the Senate after his defeat by Tom Cotton. Boozman was reelected in 2016 and 2022.
Early life, education and career
Boozman was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, the son of Marie E. ( Nichols) and Fay Winford Boozman, Jr. (1923–1991). Boozman's father, whose last address was in Rogers, Arkansas, was a Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force. His elder brother, Fay Boozman (1946–2005), was also a politician. After graduating from Northside High School in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Boozman played football for the Arkansas Razorbacks at the University of Arkansas, which he attended from 1969 to 1973, while completing his pre-optometry requirements. He did not graduate from the University of Arkansas. He graduated from the Southern College of Optometry in 1977 and entered private practice that same year as co-founder of Boozman-Hof Regional Eye Clinic in Rogers, which has become a major provider of eye care to Northwest Arkansas. He established the low vision program at the Arkansas School for the Blind in Little Rock and worked as a volunteer optometrist at an area clinic that provides medical services to low-income families.
Before his election to Congress, Boozman served two terms on the Rogers Public School Board, which governs one of Arkansas's largest school districts.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Boozman was elected to Congress in a special election after his predecessor, Asa Hutchinson, resigned to become the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Boozman was unopposed in 2002, defeated Democratic State Representative Jan Judy 59%-38% in 2004, and defeated Democratic nominee Woodrow Anderson III in 2006. The Democrats did not field a candidate against him in 2008, and he won with over 78% of the vote against token opposition from a Green Party candidate.
Tenure
In October 2002, Boozman voted in favor of the Iraq Resolution that led to the Iraq War. In 2011, after 4,500 Americans and hundreds of thousands of civilians had died, he said: "Right now, Iraq has a stable police force, a stable military. And hopefully that will continue, and they’ll be successful in having a form of democracy that is not a safe haven for terrorism in the future.”
Starting during the 108th Congress, Boozman served as an Assistant Whip, making him responsible for helping House Republican Whips Roy Blunt and Eric Cantor secure the votes for or against major legislation.