By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

As of this past election cycle, the Republican Party can be described as the majority party in Arkansas, and its chairman had something to do with that happening.

It may surprise you to learn that Republicans only now are the majority. The party has controlled all congressional seats and statewide offices since 2014 and three-fourths of the Legislature since 2016.

But Democrats still controlled enough local offices to maintain a majority of the total partisan offices in Arkansas. As of 2016, Republicans controlled 621 of the 1,524 total offices, not counting constables and not counting municipal offices, which often aren’t partisan. That’s less than 41 percent.

The flip occurred this past election. The Republican Party of Arkansas says the party controls 754 seats, or 49.48 percent. Eight more offices would be half, but independents occupy some offices, so almost certainly there are more Republicans than Democrats.

It’s been a historic turnaround since 2008, when Republicans controlled only 220 offices, or 14 percent.

That’s also when Doyle Webb, a former Republican state senator when there were only seven of them out of 35, became chairman. Walking and talking on the track at the Riverside Park in Benton Thursday, he didn’t take too much credit, though he did say, “I was the right person at the right time to be chairman of the party” because of his abilities, experiences and relationships.

Webb told me the turnaround started when President Obama and the Democrats “defined themselves as an overwhelming liberal, progressive party.” State Democrats, he said, were enablers. Once Democrats were “uncloaked,” Republicans could portray themselves as the party in line with Arkansans’ values, he said.

At the same time, the party scientifically studied districts and recruited candidates who could win. Webb met with the party’s national chairman, Michael Steele, in search of support. The state party developed a plan, “Paint Arkansas Red,” and the national party directed $1.2 million to Arkansas. It was the first time the state party had received significant money in a nonpresidential election. In that cycle, Sen. John Boozman won the U.S. Senate race, while the number of Republican state legislators increased from 36 to 61 – near majorities in both the House and Senate.

While ideas and strategies are important, much of our politics these days is based on our various identities, one of which is race. I told Webb that I don’t know how much of a factor Obama’s race was in the choices voters made at the ballot box, but it undoubtedly made some difference. His response was that he doesn’t know either, but he and the state party didn’t try to use Obama’s race to its advantage.

Regardless, none of Arkansas’ Republican state legislators are African-American, while almost half of the members of the Democratic caucus are. Webb said the party is trying to recruit candidates and pointed to a couple of successes, including Washington County Judge Joseph Wood. He said the first statewide African-American officeholder – that’s right, we’ve never had one – will be a Republican after 2022.

Webb is now the nation’s longest serving Republican Party state chairman. He theorized that Arkansas is now the nation’s reddest state because most other red states have some Democrats in major offices. Even Alabama elected a Democratic U.S. senator in 2017.

Webb will be term-limited in 2020, and while the party extended his time in office once before, he has no intention of staying. He’s not sure what he’ll do next, but he said he’s not finished with public service.

This is the right time to be getting out because it’s about time for rivalries and factions to develop in the now-majority party. In 2022, most of the statewide offices will be up for grabs and Boozman will be up for re-election, and there’s already talk about who will run for what. Webb told me 25-30 percent of any party will disagree with its direction.

There’s a plaque on the party’s Rockefeller Republican Center saying it’s “Dedicated to those who sacrificed to establish a two party system in Arkansas and those who work with honor to preserve it.”

“Preserve” is present tense. I asked if the plaque now refers to Democrats, now the state’s second party. He said there will always be competition, which strengthens parties and ideas.

Hopefully so, but his side is winning the majority of those competitions, and probably will for a while.