Senate Member

Senator Heather Carter is our state Senator for Legislative District 15 from North Phoenix, Cave Creek, and North Scottsdale. After eight years serving in the House of Representatives, she was elected as Senator for the district for the 2019-2020 legislative session. She represents Legislative District 15, covering Desert Ridge, Norterra, Tatum Ranch, Tatum Highlands and other North Phoenix and Cave Creek neighborhoods.

Currently, Senator Carter is the Chairperson of the Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee, Vice Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee and is also a member of the Appropriations Committee.

First elected in 2010, she has a track record of sponsoring legislation that solves many of the complex problems facing Arizona, making her one of the most effective legislators at the Capitol. She has worked to streamline government, improve the economy, encourage job creation, protect the most vulnerable, reform education and healthcare, while maintaining a balanced state budget through responsible spending measures.

In her professional life, she is a well-respected educational leader, working as an Assistant Professor of Practice at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, at the University of Arizona. She is also an Associate Director for the Arizona Center for Rural Health. She works with local school districts on educational reform issues. She was a 7th grade teacher in the Paradise Valley Unified School District and currently serves as a parent/community representative on many committees for Cave Creek and Paradise Valley Unified School District and Paradise Valley Community College.

Since moving to Arizona over 25 years ago, she has devoted her professional life to making Arizona a quality place to live, learn, work and prosper. She moved to Arizona from Maryland to attend Arizona State University, where she graduated with a degree in communication. For more than 20 years, Senator Carter has worked in education, and earned a master’s degree in educational technology from ASU and a doctorate in educational leadership from NAU.

Married for 20 years, Senator Carter and her husband reside in North Phoenix with their daughter, who attends public school in the Paradise Valley Unified School District.