Vivian Flowers


Vivian Laveda Flowers is a Democratic member of the Arkansas House of Representatives for District 17, which includes a portion of Jefferson County.
She works as a diversity officer at the UAMS Medical Center in the capital city of Little Rock, Arkansas. A resident of Pine Bluff, she is also in the south central section of her state.
Flowers holds a degree in Political Science and Technical Writing from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She received a master's degree from the Clinton School of Public Service, also in Little Rock. She is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Her cousin, Stephanie Flowers, currently serves in the Arkansas Senate for District 25.

Political career

In 2014, Flowers was nominated by the Democratic Party and elected without opposition in House District 17 to succeed fellow Democrat Hank Wilkins, who was term limited. Flowers sits on committees for Revenue and Taxation; and Aging, Children, and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs.
In February 2015, Flowers was among twenty legislators who opposed House Bill 1228, authored by Republican Bob Ballinger of Carroll County in northwestern Arkansas. The measure sought to prohibit government from imposing a burden on the free exercise of religion. Flowers's colleague, Representative Camille Bennett, a Democrat from Lonoke, called for a reworking of the legislation on the theory that the Ballinger bill would establish a "type of religious litmus test," which could impact nearly any law under consideration by the legislature. The legislation was subsequently passed by a large margin in the House and signed into law in revised form, SB 975, by Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson.
On April 2, 2020, Flowers became the second Arkansas state legislator to test positive for COVID-19.
Flowers formerly resided in San Bernardino, California and Takoma Park, Maryland, in suburban Washington, D.C., dates unavailable.