Category Archives: Gov. Sanders

Cotton and Sanders: Waking up and being ‘woke’

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Tiffany Wright, Henderson State, Trump dividend, Issue 3, Protect College Sports Act, Issue 1, Cotton SandersSen. Tom Cotton and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders made national news in recent days. For Cotton, it was because of a disagreement with President Trump about when Americans should awaken. For Sanders, it was because some commenters said her political ad was too “woke.”

Cotton’s moment occurred Saturday when Trump urged him to support The Sunshine Protection Act in a post on Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform. The bill would make daylight savings occur year-round. It has already easily passed the House, 308-117, although all four members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation voted against it.

Trump encouraged Arkansans to contact Cotton and tell him to support the bill, going so far as to list what he said was Cotton’s cell phone number.

Cotton responded by saying that, like everyone else, he doesn’t like changing the clock, but past efforts to enact permanent daylight savings time have been repealed because the sun rises too late in the winter. There was a short-lived and ultimately unpopular move to year-round daylight savings time in the 1970s during an energy crisis. 

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Poll finds Arkansas races tighter than expected

Sen. Tom Cotton, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Rep. French Hill  are definitely still the favorites to win in November. But the election just got more interesting.

A Talk Business & Politics-Hendrix College poll released over the course of this week found that Cotton, a Republican, was trailing Democrat Hallie Shoffner, 47.4% to 44%. Libertarian Jeff Wadlin was running at 3%, while 5.65% of respondents were undecided. 

The poll also found that in the governor’s race, Sanders was leading Democrat state Sen. Fred Love, 45% to 40%, while Libertarian Colt Shelby trailed with 7%. Another 8% were undecided. 

The poll of 1,217 likely voters was conducted Aug. 11-12 via text message and had a plus-minus margin of error of 4.7%. That’s a 9.4% swing, which means Cotton could be leading his race while Love could be ahead of Sanders. 

In a separate survey of 1,112 likely voters in the 2nd District, Rep. Hill was trailing Democrat Chris Jones, 44% to 48%.

The impossible-to-ignore finding was that more respondents disapproved of President Trump than approved, 53%-46%. Perhaps even more significant was the fact that almost half the respondents (48.3%) strongly disapproved. Less than 5% only somewhat disapproved. In contrast, one-third (32.2%) strongly approved.  Continue reading →

Sanders’ State of the State shows what will pass

One big difference between a president’s typical State of the Union address and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ State of the State address April 8 is this: What the governor proposed will actually happen.

While the State of the Union often features a laundry list of policy proposals applauded only by the president’s party, Sanders’ State of the State at the beginning of this year’s fiscal session didn’t offer many policy specifics. And while there were standing ovations and opposition sit-downs, it didn’t have a partisan vibe.

In fact, don’t expect a lot of fireworks during the fiscal session, for three reasons. First, fiscal sessions, which happen every even-numbered year, are designed to last 30 days and focus on relatively boring budget matters. Lawmakers can get into other topics, but most don’t want to. Second, Sanders is in her first term and still likely to pass most of her priorities through a supportive Legislature. Third, Sanders has taken the most contentious item, her proposed 3,000-bed Franklin County prison, off the table for now. It just doesn’t have the votes, and may never have them.

We can be fairly certain, then, that lawmakers will agree to Sanders’ request for full support of the educational freedom accounts in her 2003 LEARNS Act. Those accounts provide families of any income level about $7,000 per child annually for private and homeschooling expenses.  Continue reading →

Sanders: Run for president has crossed her mind

When Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders makes an honest statement when asked about someday maybe running for president (“Certainly, you know, things cross your mind”), it’s worth a mention. 

Sanders made the comment in response to a direct question by Politico national reporter Jonathan Martin. She was the first interview subject in his new “On the Road with Jonathan Martin” series, where he is traveling the country talking to political types while enjoying local cuisine. They did the 40-minute interview at Wright’s Barbecue in Little Rock with a tempting plate of food sitting on the table in front of them.

Martin referenced a comment by one of Sanders’ friends that a Democrat probably will be elected president in 2028, but that Sanders will be out of office after the 2030 elections and her children will be grown. (“Almost,” she corrected.) In 2032, could she be a candidate?

In response, Sanders said, “I think in any job, especially one like that I have right now in public service, your goal, your focus has to be to do a really good job in the role that you have, and see what happens from there. So my focus is Arkansas and helping us move to the top and take it from that point.”

When Martin rephrased the question, Sanders replied, “Certainly, you know, things cross your mind,” but she added that she had never thought she would be the White House press secretary or even the governor despite growing up in a political family.  Continue reading →