Governor has money, opponents had debate

By STEVE BRAWNER

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders does not need John Calipari’s $7,000 to win re-election this November, but she received it nonetheless.

The two $3,500 donations by the University of Arkansas basketball coach and wife Ellen were included in Sanders’ June campaign finance reports filed with the secretary of state.

Sanders raised roughly $198,000 that month and has raised $7.7 million total. She had $5.1 million left in the bank. 

Sanders raised more in June than her Democratic challenger, Sen. Fred Love, D-Little Rock, had raised in his campaign. Love had raised $193,000, including $16,300 in June. 

He spent $30,000 that same month – $18,500 of it on fundraising. In other words, he spent more on fundraising than he collected last month. He had $7,500 left in the bank.

Campaigning is like any business: You generally must spend money to make money. Perhaps his efforts will bear fruit later in the campaign.

Libertarian candidate Colt Shelby of Cecil had raised roughly $24,600, including $5,800 in June. Those numbers are pretty good for a third party candidate. He had $30,500 remaining, including $10,000 in loans he has made to the campaign.

Shelby can win while losing if he becomes the first Libertarian to achieve 3% support running for governor or president in Arkansas. The party as a result would shed its “new” party label and avoid collecting signatures to qualify for the 2028 ballot. 

He could do quite a bit better if he receives protest votes from Arkansans who don’t support Sanders but don’t want to support a Democrat.

Love and Shelby met in a debate sponsored by the Arkansas Press Association June 26. It’s available on Arkansas TV’s YouTube page. Sanders declined the invitation.

Love opened by saying that Sanders had failed Arkansas, pointing to the state’s (longstanding and pre-Sanders) low ranking in food insecurity, infant mortality, maternal mortality, and other metrics.

Shelby said the state must address education, crime, affordability, and helping famers. He said Arkansas should focus on “women’s health and become a pro-life state, not a pro-birth state.”

Love declared that his Department of Education would not administer the educational freedom accounts created by Sanders’ 2023 LEARNS Act. In fact, he said he would issue an executive order to that effect. Instead, he would invest that money in public education.

The EFAs this year will provide families $7,208 for private and homeschooling expenses. Lawmakers appropriated $400 million for the program. This past year, more than 44,000 students benefited.

LEARNS was overwhelmingly passed by an overwhelmingly Republican Legislature. The EFAs are the law. If Love were to refuse to administer them – well, that would get interesting.

Shelby said the program is unaffordable, but people are benefiting and it can’t be completely undone at this point. He’d like it to be more income-based as he incrementally scaled it back. 

It was Sanders’ proposed Franklin County prison that got Shelby involved in politics. He lives near where it would be located. He said the state instead should expand its current facility at Calico Rock and extend rehabilitation programs in county jails, where inmates would be close to their homes and families. 

Love said the state doesn’t need more prison beds but instead needs more opportunities for young people. He supports more summer youth employment and improvements in literacy. 

Love said the state must expand Medicaid, or hospitals will close. Mothers should receive postpartum coverage for one year. Shelby said the state must respond to the federal government’s new Medicaid work requirement by helping recipients with internet access, transportation to work, and one-on-one career counseling.

Love said the state’s most important economic issue is the need for a prepared workforce. Labor unions and apprenticeship programs should be engaged. Shelby said it’s affordability. The insurance commissioner should keep insurers from driving up rates. The state should invest in infrastructure in lower-income counties.

Elsewhere in the debate, Love called for a moratorium on data centers. Shelby said local leaders should decide. Also, Love strongly opposes legalizing recreational marijuana but later said he would support it if people voted for it. Shelby said he would support whatever Arkansans want. 

Asked what they would do on day one as governor, Shelby said he would “fire a lot of people.” A big focus would be changing personnel and restructuring organizations. Love repeated that he would issue an executive order prohibiting administering the EFAs. 

The two sparred a few times during the debate but ended with a bro hug. They’ll meet again when Arkansas TV hosts its fall debates. 

Sanders’ campaign said Thursday she will participate in that one, as she did in 2022.

Steve Brawner’s column is syndicated to 24 news outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.