# Shelley Hughes

Shelley Hughes (born January 6, 1958, in Canton, Ohio) is an American politician and a Republican member of the Alaska Senate, serving since 2017. Hughes represents Palmer and other parts of the southern Matanuska-Susitna Borough. She was previously a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from January 18, 2013, until January 22, 2017.

## Career

Hughes has an AA from Cuyahoga Community College and a BA from the University of Alaska.

### Alaska House of Representatives

Hughes was appointed to the Alaska State House of Representatives by Governor Sean Parnell, succeeding the late Representative Carl Gatto, who died on April 10, 2012. Hughes was then elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 2012, beating Daniel Hamm in the primary election.

### Alaska Senate

Hughes was first elected to the Alaska Senate in its 2016 election. In 2021, she was chosen to be the majority leader of the Alaska Senate.

#### Health care

In September 2021, Hughes was part of a panel of Alaska legislators focused on health care. Hughes argued that Alaska was "the highest cost location on the globe" for the cost of drug and medical treatment, and said she was looking at pharmacy benefit management and increased price transparency as ways to keep costs down.

#### Transgender athletes

In May 2021, Hughes introduced a bill into the Alaska Senate that would ban transgender women and girls from playing in women's sports. The bill required that public schools, or private schools with teams that compete against public schools, have gender-segregated sporting teams and that any participant on the girls' team "must be female, based on the participant's biological sex." Because the bill was introduced in the final few weeks of the legislative session, Hughes announced that she would push for it in the next legislative session instead.

## Personal life

Hughes' husband, Roger, is a veteran of the Vietnam War. She has four children.

## Electoral history
### 2020

2020 Alaska Senate election, District F :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Shelley Hughes | 4,759 | 100.0% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 4,759 | 100.0% |
| General election |||||
| | Republican | Shelley Hughes | 14,751 | 71.3% |
| | Democratic | Jim Cooper | 4,904 | 23.7% |
| | Other | Gavin S. Christiansen | 998 | 4.8% |
| | Other | Write-ins | 29 | 0.1% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 10,829 | 100.0% |

### 2016

2016 Alaska Senate election, District F :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Shelley Hughes | 2,186 | 48.09% |
| | Republican | Adam Crum | 1,885 | 41.47% |
| | Republican | Steve St. Clair | 475 | 10.45% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 4,546 | 100.0% |
| General election |||||
| | Republican | Shelley Hughes | 12,284 | 69.69% |
| | Other | Tim Hale | 4,750 | 27.7% |
| | Other | Write-ins | 92 | 0.54% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 10,829 | 100.0% |

### 2014

2014 Alaska House of Representatives election, District 11 :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Shelley Hughes | 3,402 | 100.0% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 3,402 | 100.0% |
| General election |||||
| | Republican | Shelley Hughes | 5,268 | 69.69% |
| | Democratic | Pete LaFrance | 2,275 | 30.10% |
| | Other | Write-ins | 16 | 0.21% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 7,559 | 100.0% |

### 2012

2012 Alaska House of Representatives election, District 8 :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Shelley Hughes | 1,819 | 71.9% |
| | Republican | Daniel H. Hamm | 709 | 28.1% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 2,522 | 100.0 |
| General election |||||
| | Republican | Shelley Hughes | 6,183 | 95.6% |
| | Other | Write-ins | 282 | 4.4% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 6,465 | 100.0 |