John Boozman

John Boozman
Official portrait, 2017
United States Senator
from Arkansas
Assumed office
January 3, 2011
Serving with Tom Cotton
Preceded byBlanche Lincoln
Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee
Assumed office
February 3, 2021
Preceded byDebbie Stabenow
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Arkansas's 3rd district
In office
November 20, 2001 – January 3, 2011
Preceded byAsa Hutchinson
Succeeded bySteve Womack
Personal details
Born
John Nichols Boozman

(1950-12-10) December 10, 1950 (age 73)
Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Cathy Marley
(m. 1972)
Children3
RelativesFay Boozman (brother)
EducationUniversity of Arkansas
Southern College of Optometry (OD)
Signature
WebsiteSenate website

John Nichols Boozman (/ˈbz.mən/ BOHZ-mən; 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 Arkansas's 3rd congressional district 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 only the second 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.