Representative Jennifer Stewart Contact information

Jennifer Stewart (D) was elected in November 2022 as the State Representative from District 59 in Pawtucket. She is a member of the House Health and Human Services Committee and the House Innovation, Internet and Technology Committee. Representative Stewart also serves as a member of the Special Legislative Study Commission to Evaluate and Provide Recommendations on Mandated Safety Protocols for Rhode Island Schools.

During the 2023 legislative session, Representative Stewart supported the passage of the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act to provide insurance coverage for abortion care to individuals on Medicaid as well as state employees. She also supported passage of several bills that will address Rhode Island’s insufficient housing stock as well as the elimination of rental application fees. Rhode Island’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union recognized her strong voting record on bills concerning civil liberties issues by giving her a perfect score on its 2023 Legislative Score Card.

In 2023, Representative Stewart introduced bills to make Rhode Island a better place to live for all its residents. These bills included extending the notification time that landlords must provide to tenants about rent increases, promoting visitable and accessible building standards for all residential projects that receive public support, repealing the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, and renaming Victory Day as Peace and Remembrance Day. She was the prime sponsor of resolutions to require state agencies to report on their use of artificial intelligence and to welcome the Golden Rule to Rhode Island when it arrived to educate the public about the continued threats of nuclear destruction.

A graduate of the University of Chicago, Representative Stewart has a master’s degree in political science. She teaches at Moses Brown School in Providence. In addition to teaching history and political science, she had a successful seven-year tenure as humanities department chair.

She was a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Scholars Teacher Recognition Award in 2011. She has been privileged to pursue many professional development opportunities, including a summer fellowship on cartographic history with the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Representative Stewart is a 2018-2019 recipient of the Fulbright Distinguished Award for Teaching. As a Fulbright grantee, she made Finland her home from January through June, 2019, and conducted an inquiry project entitled “How Less Can Be More: What Finland Can Teach the U.S. about Cutting the Homework in the Humanities." During her stay, she was hosted by the University of Helsinki.

Representative Stewart resides in Pawtucket with her husband, Benjamin Evans. She is excited to represent her Oak Hill and Woodlawn neighbors in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.​