The former head of Sam’s Club’s Membership Department hopes to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton. Jeff Wadlin, 55, of Bentonville is running as the Libertarian Party nominee.
Hallie Shoffner is the Democratic candidate.
“I think a lot of people are not happy with the direction the country’s going right now,” he said in discussing his third party candidacy. “They’re not happy with the way that working families are getting squeezed, and I feel like I’ve got the right skill set, and I’ve got some time, and I wanted to get involved and give something back.”
The Virginia native brought his family and his product development and consulting firm
to Bentonville in 2011. His previous work had included starting an online salvage auto parts company, working at Capital One’s headquarters, and working for Caterpillar.
Wadlin started consulting for Sam’s Club in 2015 and then started working full-time for the company the next year. He eventually led its Membership Department recruiting and retaining members. He left the company in 2022 and started Wadlin Consulting, which helps companies with membership strategies and marketing.
His wife, Kay, is a nurse at Bentonville High School. They have three sons.
Wadlin said he generally aligns with the Libertarian Party’s small government philosophy, which he described as “basically personal freedom with economic responsibility.” However, he said he is “not a Libertarian purist.” He instead considers himself to be an independent centrist and a moderate.
He said he is a capitalist who believes in free markets, but he wants to restrain huge corporations and monopolies. The system, he said, is no longer designed for the 80% of Americans in the working and middle class.
“People talk about making America great again,” he said. “Well, what does that mean? When was it great? Well, I think it was great when we were focused on the middle class, and we had a thriving middle class. … And if we optimize for the middle class, everything else will be fine.”
Regarding health care, for which Americans pay far more than other countries, he sees the utility industry as a potential model. The government regulates monopoly electric companies’ rates to ensure they make a profit without overcharging customers. The same oversight could apply to a community’s hospital.
He said the Libertarians take the best from the right and the left. On economic issues, they favor smaller government, lower taxes and property rights, as Republicans have traditionally said they do.
Asked why he didn’t run as a Republican, he said he didn’t want to sacrifice his principles to win an election. He said Cotton is part of a party machine and is beholden to special interests and his donors. Furthermore, he said Republicans have moved away from limited government principles and have helped increase the national debt to $39 trillion. He’s opposed to tariffs and the war with Iran.
Meanwhile, he is more aligned with Democrats when it comes to personal liberties and lifestyle and health care choices. Asked specifically about abortion, he said he is not focused on culture war issues. He said the Supreme Court has made abortion a state concern, and that he is unlikely to have an impact as a U.S. senator.
However, he doesn’t agree with Democrats that “the government is the solution for everything,” and he doesn’t like the party’s “purity tests.”
Libertarians don’t have the same resources and infrastructure as Republicans and Democrats. He said he’s recruited party members to make phone calls, and he’ll try to speak before groups across the state.
He said Arkansans want an alternative to the two parties.
“My main point in this race is, look, all of those of us in the middle, we have shared economic interests, and that’s what we need to focus on,” he said. “Let’s don’t let the parties divide us over culture war issues that are causing us to be fearful and angry and hateful.
“I think a lot of people are just going around stressed out right now and unhappy, and we’re all angry at our neighbor, and I don’t think that’s the way it should be. My faith says that we should love our neighbor, and even love our enemy, and then only God should judge.”
© 2026 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.
Steve Brawner’s column is syndicated to 24 news outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.