[2] Laughter was first elected to the House in November 1998 as a Democrat, representing District 3.
[5]: viii–ix In February 2003, she changed her party affiliation from Democrat to independent.
[6] She ran for re-election in the November 2004 election but was defeated by Democrats Ann Kirkpatrick and Albert Tom.
[7] Between 2004 and 2010 she changed her party affiliation back to Democrat, and ran for the Arizona State Senate in 2010 in District 2.
She lost in the primary to Jack Jackson, Jr.[8] She died from complications of COVID-19 in Mesa, Arizona, on October 15, 2022, at the age of 63.