Category Archives: Elections

If you can’t beat them, go around them?

Elections, State government

By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

It’s hard for many groups to get much done via representative democracy in Arkansas these days, so this election season – and maybe in future ones – they are trying the direct democracy route.

As you may have noticed, there are more proposed ballot initiatives this year than voters can shake a stick at. 

Meanwhile, there are few competitive candidate races. The presidential race is a foreground conclusion at this point. The only statewide race will be a special election for state treasurer, which Republican Secretary of State John Thurston almost certainly will win. Republicans will likely maintain their control of more than 80% of the Legislature. Continue reading If you can’t beat them, go around them? →

Arkansas Democrats hope this election is ‘inflection point’

Elections, Politics

By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Could this be the election where Arkansas Democrats reverse a decade-and-a-half slide that has left them at times nearly powerless in deciding which laws get passed?

The party’s strategy director, Will Watson, thinks so.

Watson and other Democrats are encouraged by a new poll the party commissioned that described at least 17 competitive “battleground” state legislative districts. Republicans represent 14 while Democrats represent three. Continue reading Arkansas Democrats hope this election is ‘inflection point’ →

Asa pulling for No Labels, but won’t be candidate

Elections

By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson hopes No Labels fields a competitive independent presidential candidate this November. It just won’t be him. 

“The short answer is that I want No Labels to have a strong candidate and I am not the right one,” Hutchinson wrote in a text March 11. “They need someone with a bigger profile and money. And I have a number of options in [the] private sector that are appealing.”

He said it is “premature” to elaborate on those options, so I asked him if he wanted to expand on why he, a lifelong Republican, has hopes for No Labels.

“Just like many Americans, I am not excited about a Trump candidacy and I will not endorse him,” he texted. “And I don’t support Biden. I ran for President because we needed an alternative beyond Trump and Biden and I still believe that is true.” Continue reading Asa pulling for No Labels, but won’t be candidate →

What stands out about the primary election’s numbers?

Elections

By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Let’s see what stands out about the numbers in last Tuesday’s primary elections, starting with the state’s only contested congressional race. 

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack defeated a not-very-well-funded challenger, state Sen. Clint Penzo, 54%-46%, in northwest Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District.

It was the kind of race Republican congressmen fear – a challenge from within their own party from the right. Democrats in Democratic states fear a challenge from the left. 

Womack has been in office for a while, and he’s in a leadership position. He’s more of a traditional Republican rather than a MAGA (Make America Great Again) one allied with former President Trump. Where he really stepped out was when he publicly opposed the speakership candidacy of Rep. Jim Jordan, a Trump ally. Continue reading What stands out about the primary election’s numbers? →