Outsiders had tough year in Arkansas politics

By STEVE BRAWNER

How can Arkansas politics in 2024 be summarized? It was a good year for incumbents and Republicans. It was a tough year for outsiders.

All three statewide races were won by candidates already holding office. Secretary of State John Thurston was elected state treasurer. Associate Justice Karen Baker was elected chief justice – without really campaigning and despite being the least Republican of the three justices in the race. The other two, Associate Justices Rhonda Wood and Barbara Webb, will keep their current jobs. In another race, Associate Justice Courtney Hudson moved to a different seat that will allow her to extend her stay on the court.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders last week appointed the replacements for those three positions. Her deputy chief legal counsel, Cole Jester, will be secretary of state. Solicitor General Nicholas Bronni will take Baker’s associate justice seat. The solicitor general handles the state’s appellate and national litigation. 

Sanders appointed Associate Justice Cody Hiland to Hudson’s seat. She had appointed him to his current seat in July 2023, but he couldn’t run for re-election as an appointee. He now can serve two more years.

Speaking of Sanders, she continues to dominate state politics. In June, she signed her third tax cut into law after calling legislators into special session. Her LEARNS education law is being implemented without many hitches. She will enter next year’s legislative session in a strong position to pass her agenda.

Her administration may have made a misstep in locating a prison in Charleston without gathering local support. However, that decision appears to be substantially unpopular only there.

At the federal level, the state’s Republican congressional delegates won easily in November. The closest race any faced all year was the March primary, when Rep. Steve Womack defeated state Sen. Clint Penzo with 54% of the vote.

Since November, things have gotten even better for them with Republicans in control of the White House, Senate and House. Thanks to their majority status and seniority, they are moving into leadership positions or continuing in them.

In the Senate, Sen. John Boozman will chair the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. His ascension comes at an important time with Congress due (past due, actually) to reauthorize the Farm Bill. Sen. Tom Cotton was elected the Senate Republican conference chair, the caucus’s third-ranking position. He’s also in line to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee. 

In the House, Rep. French Hill will chair the Financial Services Committee, a position for which the former banker is well suited. Rep. Bruce Westerman already chairs the Committee on Natural Resources. Womack chairs the Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. 

Rep. Rick Crawford unsuccessfully campaigned to chair the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Had he succeeded, Arkansans would have led the committee charged with transportation policy and, with Womack, the subcommittee with jurisdiction over transportation funding. That would have been a powerful one-two punch.

While Republican incumbents and candidates had a good year, for others it was another frustrating election season. The highest finishing of the three Democratic congressional candidates, Marcus Jones in the 2nd District, reached only 41%. The Democrats’ state treasurer candidate, John Pagan, reached 30%. Democrats did gain one seat in the Legislature – their first net gain in 18 years – but the body remains four-fifths Republican. 

Third party presidential candidates won only 2.24% of the vote. Half went to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who had dropped out of the race and is now President-elect Trump’s nominee to be secretary of health and human services. The biggest third party, the Libertarians, fell short of the 3% needed to avoid having to collect signatures to qualify for the ballot in 2026. Their candidate, Chase Oliver, collected .48%.

Finally, Arkansans seeking to change public policy through the ballot initiative process had only limited success. The group Local Voters in Charge passed a constitutional amendment canceling the Pope County casino license and requiring future casinos to be approved in a special election in the county where the casino would be located.

But other initiative efforts failed to make the ballot over signature issues. Those included efforts to expand medical marijuana availability, change the education system, expand abortion access, and enshrine the Freedom of Information Act in the Constitution.

As before, if someone wants to change Arkansas public policy, the most direct path is to already hold office or to be a Republican seeking one.

Outsiders face an uphill battle, but that’s politics. Republicans were the outsiders not long ago.

Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 17 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.