james c. sheehan (born january 27, 1966 in warwick, rhode island) is an american politician and a democratic member of the rhode island senate representing district 36 since january 2003. sheehan served consecutively from january 2001 until january 2003 in the district 23 seat. on november 6, 2018, sheehan won election to a tenth consecutive term in the rhode island senate, defeating republican challenger john p. silvaggio by a margin of 66.9 percent to 32.7 percent.