Chapter 9

Arkansas: Democratic Titans Preserve Party Advantage

Arkansas is the first Rim South state that we examine, a sub-region of the South that is generally characterized by a smaller concentration of African Americans than in the Deep South and higher education and income levels. With blacks presenting less of a numerical “threat” to whites, Rim South whites were less likely to resort to the more drastic measures used by Deep South whites to ensure widespread black disfranchisement. With Rim South whites less obsessed by the race issue, whites were more willing at an earlier time to start dividing their support between two political parties, so Republicans made their first steady gains in Rim South states. Arkansas exemplifies the Rim South in that African Americans comprise only 16% of the state’s population, and the measures used to disfranchise African Americans were not as numerous or severe as in Deep South states. Indeed, the percentage of voting age blacks registered to vote was higher than the 11-state regional average throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, reaching 49% one year before the 1965 Voting Rights Act (Garrow 1978: 11, 19).

Arkansas is a unique Rim South state in that it remained overwhelmingly Democratic until the last decade of the 20^th century. Arkansas in some socioeconomic ways better resembles a Deep South state, as it is very rural, and at the outset of the 21^st century it ranked lowest of the Rim South states in household income, percent of population who were college graduates, and average teacher salaries (NEA website and U.S. Census data). Rural residents tended to support tradition, which was the Democratic party, while lower socioeconomic status individuals were also bulwarks of the ruling party. Arkansas, like Louisiana, also had some history of progressivism, which was usually found in the ruling Democratic party. When a Democratic governor turned towards racial demagoguery, Arkansas was relatively unique among the southern states during the civil rights movement as it elected a Republican governor, who briefly made the GOP a more liberal force that was able to temporarily attract black votes. Democrats regained political control by assembling the same centrist black-white coalition that emerged in other southern states, while the GOP turned towards the ideological right. Dominant political personalities helped to ensure Democratic hegemony until the 1990s, but unlike the solitary figures of Edwin Edwards in Louisiana and George Wallace in Alabama, Arkansas Democrats benefited from three titans.

Broad Tent Democrats Include Progressives and Conservatives

Arkansas has had a more progressive past than other southern states, which was quite evident during the first half of the 20^th century. Governor Jeff Davis, despite his racial demagoguery, “railed against the trusts and railroads” and enacted “modestly reformist legislation” such as an antitrust law (Blair and Barth 2005: 13). Governor Donaghey promoted gains in education and public health and championed a constitutional amendment establishing initiative and referendum, Governor Brough enacted “progressive programs for roads, schools, administrative efficiency, and women’s suffrage,” and under Governor McRae school revenue increased and Arkansas became the first state to ratify the federal anti-child labor constitutional amendment (Blair and Barth 2005: 14). From 1948 thru 1952 Arkansas not only made great strides in “highway construction, health care, extension of electricity to rural areas, educational upgrades, and electoral reforms,” but saw its governor, Sidney McMath, “set a tolerant tone in race relations” and appoint some blacks to state boards and commissions (Blair and Barth 2005: 15). Even Governor Orval Faubus in the 1950s increased education and welfare spending, created an innovative institution for mentally retarded kids, and appointed wealthy reformer Winthrop Rockefeller to head the Industrial Development Commission to attract industry to the state (Blair and Barth 2005: 16).

Arkansas can also boast a progressive history that affected national politics. In 1932 Hattie Caraway became the first woman elected to a full U.S. senate term. Huey Long had barnstormed the state on her behalf, given her support for such populist-progressive legislation as a federal $1 million cap on people’s individual annual incomes (Bass and DeVries 1977: 88). She defeated a man whose campaign cry was: “Arkansas needs another man in the Senate,” and proceeded to become the first congress member to support a federal equal rights constitutional amendment for women (Mikulski et al., 2000: 170). Another Arkansas Democratic titan on the national stage was J. William Fulbright, who as U.S. Senator from 1945 thru 1974 authored the resolution committing the nation to the United Nations, created the Fulbright international scholars exchange program, and as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee opposed American Vietnam War policy (Blair and Barth 2005: 44).

Yet Arkansas’ big-tent Democratic Party also harbored more conservative and racist tendencies, as did the Democratic parties in other southern states. After a populist candidate offered a strong challenge to the Democratic candidate for governor in 1888, the legislature enacted disfranchising measures to ensure that non-Democratic party candidates could not mobilize most African Americans. All political symbols were removed from the ballot to discourage illiterates from voting, a noncumulative $1 poll tax was instituted, and the Democratic State Committee restricted its primary to only “white” voters (Blair and Barth 2005: 33 quote, 32; Key 1949: 581). Especially burdensome to voters was that the poll tax had to be paid ten months before a primary election, and given the absence of a voter registration system the poll tax receipt had to be kept and presented in order to vote (Key 1949: 586, 588). As in the Deep South states of South Carolina and Mississippi, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the white primary, Arkansas futilely sought to circumvent the court by requiring voters in the Democratic Party to swear support for the party’s segregationist policies, which included school segregation, legal prohibition of racial intermarriage, and the poll tax (Key 1949: 638). Unique among the states, Arkansas sought to deal with the federal court case by creating separate primary elections for state and federal offices, but then repealed this law after voters tired of voting four times a year for Democratic nominees (each state and federal nomination typically required a first primary and a runoff primary election)(Key 1949: 637).

Arkansas also saw a string of conservative Democratic governors, leading V.O. Key (1949: 185-201) to conclude that conservatism was so entrenched in state policy that gubernatorial elections normally revolved around such non-ideological causes as: who the “best qualified” candidate was, who could restore “honest” elections, what the candidate’s home county was, and whom did the local political powers support. Governor Hays refused to enforce a state initiative banning child labor fearing that it would hurt the cotton harvest, Governor Futrell backed an amendment requiring a three-fourths legislative vote to raise existing taxes and during the Great Depression unsuccessfully sought to eliminate state spending on education beyond the 8^th grade, and Governor Adkins serving during the Second World War sought to limit the civil rights of interned Japanese-Americans as well as to maintain the usual restrictions on African Americans. Governors Terral, Parnell, and Laney were most known for fiscal conservatism with Laney also signing a right-to-work amendment banning closed union shops (see Website: http://www.oldstatehouse.com/exhibits/virtual/governors/).

The conservative wing of the state Democratic party was especially evident during the civil rights movement, when Governor Orval Faubus’ segregationist actions submerged his progressive policies in the nation’s image of Arkansas. In 1957 Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine African American children from integrating Central High School in Little Rock, prompting President Eisenhower to federalize the National Guard to protect the children as they attended their new school. With legislative support, Faubus promptly closed all Little Rock high schools the next year until the federal courts reopened them the year after (Yates 1972: 271-272). For his staunch advocacy of the “southern way of life,” Faubus was repeatedly reelected to serve an unprecedented six, 2-year terms as governor, extending from 1955 thru 1967. The state Democratic party was not completely united over the race issue, though, as shown by Congressman Brooks Hays, who represented the Little Rock area and who sought to “meliorate rather than escalate the 1957 Central High desegregation crisis” (Blair and Barth 2005: 44). Angered by the congressman’s intrusion, Faubus threw his support to an independent candidate who narrowly unseated Hays in the 1958 elections (Yates 1972: 271-273).

Unlike most southern states, Arkansas’ Republican Party took advantage of the racial conservatism of Democrats by nominating a progressive candidate for governor. Winthrop Rockefeller, as chairman of the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission, had helped attract over 600 new industrial plants to the state (Bass and DeVries 1977: 89). Rockefeller won 43% of the vote in his 1964 race against Governor Faubus, who managed to neutralize the Republican’s more progressive views on race relations by endorsing the Johnson-Humphrey presidential ticket (Yates, 1972: 275; Bass and DeVries 1977: 93). Democrats handed the governorship to Rockefeller in 1966 when Faubus retired and they nominated for the governorship Jim Johnson, whose claim to fame was organizing white Citizens’ Councils to resist integration after the Brown school desegregation decision was rendered (Yates 1972: 264). With Johnson not only refusing to seek black votes but even reportedly refusing “to shake hands with a man of that race,” Rockefeller’s focus on promoting industrialization and improving education helped to make him with 54% of the vote the first GOP governor since Reconstruction (Yates, 1972: 280). Not only had liberal Democrats and an anti-segregation group calling itself “Women Democrats for Rockefeller” backed the Republican, but so too had urban residents, voters with higher than average incomes, and an estimated 71% of African Americans (Yates 1972: 279, 281, 283; Blair and Barth 2005: 68). Republicans also elected their first non-gubernatorial statewide elected official, Maurice “Footsie” Britt, who narrowly won the lieutenant governorship and was reelected two years later (Blair and Barth 2005: 69; Yates 1972: 280).

As governor, Rockefeller appointed new directors of state agencies, who ended casino gambling, fought abuses at the state’s prisons, and drove many dishonest insurance agents out of Arkansas (Yates 1972: 283, 285). The Republican governor, who won reelection in 1968 with 52% of the vote, is also credited with ushering in a new era of racial moderation, as he sang “We Shall Overcome” on the Capitol steps after the assassination of Martin Luther King (Bass and DeVries 1977: 101). Yet Republicans were able to make few gains in other offices, and after Rockefeller was defeated for reelection in 1970 given publicity regarding his “drinking problem” and his growing difficulty in working with the legislature (Bass and DeVries 1977: 94), the GOP controlled less than 5% of state legislative seats and no statewide elected office (Table 9-2). Democrats were poised to create a formidable black-white coalition around progressive and racially moderate candidates who would dominate state and national political offices for the next twenty-six years (Table 9-1). This new governing coalition would reinforce the “broad tent” nature of the Arkansas Democratic Party, whose U.S. Senators were a states’ rights, anti-labor racketeer conservative known for directing much federal public works money into the state (John McClellan) and an anti-Vietnam War, Rhodes Scholar who had compiled a moderate liberal voting record (J. William Fulbright)(Yates 1972: 262; Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 32-33).

Democratic Titans Bumpers, Pryor, and Clinton Dominate Arkansas

The first Democratic titan to restore Democrats to their usual hegemonic rule over state politics was Dale Bumpers, a practicing attorney and civic leader from the small town of Charleston near the Ouachita Mountains in west central Arkansas (Bass and DeVries 1977: 94). In his runoff primary victory over former governor Faubus and in his general election landslide over Rockefeller, the “attractive and unflappable newcomer” Bumpers painted a portrait of himself as a “young, honest, and vigorous advocate of improvement in state government” (Yates 1972: 292). Especially in comparison to the former segregationist governor Faubus, who still sought to exploit the race issue by claiming that Bumpers’ lack of concern over court-ordered busing to achieve desegregation would prompt federal judges to impose it, Bumpers was viewed by many political observers as “articulate, intelligent, and forward-looking” (quote in Blair and Barth 2005: 68; Lamis 1990: 122-123). As governor, Bumpers reorganized state government and created a cabinet by consolidating sixty state agencies into thirteen, and raised the state income tax and made it more progressive in order to raise teachers’ salaries and expand the state’s colleges. Bumpers also established a consumer protection agency, instituted civil service exams for state jobs, and improved care for the elderly, handicapped, and mentally retarded (See Website: http://www.oldstatehouse.com/exhibits/virtual/governors/the_new_south/bumpers.asp).

A superb storyteller who “educated and preached” to his audiences, Bumpers was overwhelmingly reelected in 1972 (Blair and Barth 2005: 343).

Bumpers stunned political observers in 1974 by upsetting the veteran Fulbright in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate by a whopping 65% of the vote, as stylistic differences between the two men proved decisive. The “aloof intellectual and aristocrat” Fulbright, whose expertise in foreign policy seemed far removed from the concerns of state voters, was sometimes perceived as having an “arrogant and most holier than thou attitude” (Bass and DeVries 1977: 95). Bumpers, whose “drawl is almost Western,” decried rising inflation by telling personal anecdotes in a “language that factory workers and hardscrabble farmers” could understand, and then denounced the profits of the big oil companies with such “passion in his voice” that his pleas recalled the “ancestral poverty of the hills” (Bass and DeVries 1977: 96). Though easily defeating the Republican in November, who drew only 15% of the vote, Bumpers faced a more formidable GOP challenger in his 1980 reelection. Bill Clark was a conservative Little Rock businessman, who proceeded to blast the Democrat as a “liberal” who had voted against prayer in the public schools and for the Panama Canal Treaty giving the canal back to Panama by the end of the century. Bumpers, whose voting record did indeed garner higher ratings from the liberal ADA than from the conservative ACA, adroitly moved towards the political center, voting against a labor law reform bill supported by organized labor and criticizing liberals like Senator Ted Kennedy for “throwing” new government programs at problems (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1977: 39; Barone and Ujifusa 1981: 52; Lamis 1990: 128). Bumpers won reelection with 59% of the vote.

The 1980s and 1990s saw Bumpers’ voting record in the Senate take a decidedly liberal turn, as the liberal ADA typically rated him over 80% correct while the conservative ACU usually rated him below a 20 (Duncan 1989: 71; Duncan and Lawrence 1997: 68). Indeed, Bumpers had opposed such weapons systems as the B-1 Bomber, the MX Missile and Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, as well as opposed balanced budget and school prayer amendments (Blair 1991: 144). Yet Bumpers won 62% of the vote in his 1986 reelection over GOP former U.S. attorney, Asa Hutchinson, by stressing the “specific federal projects he helped bring to the state over the years as well as the 100 days he spends at home each year,” and skillfully explaining that he had opposed President Reagan’s tax cuts because of their fiscal irresponsibility and the deficits that they would cause (Lamis 1990: 285). Bumpers won his final reelection in 1992 over former president of the state Southern Baptist Convention, Mike Huckabee, with an equally impressive 60% of the vote. Though the Republican stressed his conservative populism that included support for term limits, expanded use of the death penalty, and a renewal of traditional moral values, Bumpers was advantaged by such non-ideological issues as the disclosure that the Republican’s highest paid campaign staffer was his wife, and by Arkansans’ backlash against attacks on the state’s progress made by national Republican figures backing President Bush’s reelection over Arkansas native Bill Clinton (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 173).

The next Democratic titan waiting in the wings was former Congressman David Pryor, whose career also included being a practicing attorney, publisher, and state representative. In Congress, he had built up a moderate voting record that earned him two successive reelections without opposition, and he had gained notoriety by working anonymously as a nursing home attendant on weekends to expose abuses to the elderly in nursing homes (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 39-40). Pryor narrowly lost the 1972 Democratic senatorial primary to 76-year-old incumbent Senator John McClellan, who easily won the general election with 61% over Republican veterinarian Wayne Babbitt. The veteran McClellan had shown his vigor by “shaking thousands of hands and talking of all the federal money he had brought into Arkansas,” and had blasted his Democratic challenger as a liberal who was backed by outside labor unions, and who favored gun control and busing and opposed school prayer (quote in Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1973: 39; Lamis 1990: 125).

Pryor won the governorship in 1974 after being nominated by a 51% majority over Orval Faubus and another Democrat, and then winning a 66% landslide over Republican Ken Coon, former executive secretary for the state GOP, after prominent and wealthy businessmen threw their support to the Democratic nominee (Bass and DeVries 1977: 97; Lamis 1990: 125; Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1975: 38). As governor, Pryor strove to attract high wage industries to the state, appointed an historic number of blacks and women to state offices, and was a fiscal conservative who held spending down (Bass and DeVries 1977: 98; Fenno 1996: 293; see Website http://www.oldstatehouse.com/exhibits/virtual/governors/). Pryor was so popular among voters that he won 83% of the vote in his 1976 reelection over a virtually unknown Republican, Leon Griffith, a plumber and building contractor (Lamis 1990: 125).

As did former governor Bumpers, Governor Pryor went on to multiple terms in the U.S. Senate. In 1978 after Senator McClellan retired, Pryor defeated first-term congressman and former state attorney general Jim Guy Tucker in the Democratic primary runoff with 55% of the vote, after accusing Tucker of being the candidate of organized labor and other special interests, and then held Republican Thomas Kelly to only 16% of the total general election vote (Barone and Ujifusa 1981: 50-53; Fenno 1996: 314). Pryor, whose voting record varied in his first term between moderate and moderately liberal with some conservative positions on issues like food stamps, flag desecration, and a balanced budget, was reelected senator in 1984, defeating three-term conservative Republican congressman Ed Bethune with 57% of the vote (Ehrenhalt 1983: 82; Ehrenhalt 1985: 76; Fenno 1996: 303). The GOP challenger had futilely charged that the centrist Pryor was “part of the old liberal Democratic coalition that always spent too much and collected too much in taxes” (Lamis 1990: 256). Meanwhile, Senator Pryor had been campaigning tirelessly for a year before the election with his “person-to-person tours throughout the state” (Lamis 1990: 256). With the campaign slogan “Pryor Puts Arkansas First,” the Democratic incumbent responded to the charge that he had failed to support President Reagan’s policies by pointing out that he dealt with “issues that affect Arkansas and Arkansas people,” and that his opponent’s “rigid ideology overrides compassion and gets in the way of representing real people with problems” (Fenno 1996: quotes on 317; 319).

Pryor’s great popularity in Arkansas was reflected in his winning his last reelection to the senate in 1990 without any opposition. Pryor’s roll call record in the 1990s proceeded to move more towards the liberal to moderate liberal ideological pole (Duncan and Lawrence 1995: 66). Some of his major accomplishments as senator, though, were above ideology, as he fought waste in the federal government’s use of outside consultants, enacted a Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, and defended the Rural Electrification Administration which benefited Arkansas (Fenno 1996: 295, 299, 300). Pryor truly appeared to like people and to show a “genuine interest in whatever is on the minds of his constituents” so that voters regarded him as “one of us” and trusted him (Fenno 1996: quotes on 283; 62, 286). State reporters described him as “personable,” “folksy,” “unassuming,” and a “real nice guy,” who was decent, never made enemies, and who knew many constituents on a first name basis (Fenno 1996: quotes on 284; 286-287). Indeed, Senator Pryor was so humble and accessible that he could sometimes be found early in the morning serving as receptionist and catching the early phone calls (Fenno 1996: 288).

The third Democratic titan was Bill Clinton, whose political career started as state attorney general in 1977, where he earned an image as being pro-consumer and anti-utility (Allen and Portis 1992: 50). Blasted by his opponents as a liberal on social issues such as gun control and women’s rights, Clinton portrayed himself as one of the new South’s “compromise progressive candidates,” and proceeded to win 60% of the vote in the 1978 Democratic gubernatorial primary and 63% of the general election vote over A. Lynn Lowe, the state GOP chairman (quote in Allen and Portis 1992: 52; Lamis 1990: 126). Clinton was narrowly unseated in 1980 by businessman Frank White, who blasted the Democrat for raising car tag fees and for permitting fellow Democrat and President Jimmy Carter to locate Cuban refugees at Fort Chafee, where on two occasions the dissatisfied “undesirables” that Castro had expelled had frightened local residents by rioting and fleeing the camp (Allen and Portis 1992: 66-68). Attacked for being “too young, too liberal and too big for his britches” by Republican White, Clinton was also viewed by many voters as “arrogant, aloof, inaccessible, or egotistical” (first quote in Allen and Portis 1992: 69; second quote in Lamis 1990: 127). Frank White as governor became most known for signing a bill that required the teaching of “scientific creationism” whenever evolution was taught, a measure that was quickly ruled unconstitutional by a federal court (Blair and Barth 2005: 7).

The Comeback Kid, as Clinton has often been called, bounced back in 1982 to unseat Frank White with a comfortable 55% vote, as the chastened ex-governor apologized for being out of touch with voters and for raising car tags, blasted the incumbent Republican for high unemployment and rising utility rates, and benefited from thousands of passionate campaign volunteers (Lamis 1990: 128-129; Blair and Barth 2005: 56). Returning to the governorship, Clinton convinced the legislature to raise taxes for several educational programs, such as teacher raises, an 8^th grade student competency test, lower class sizes and a longer school year, and accountability through teacher testing (Allen and Portis 1992: 88, 90, 92, 97). Despite the state education association’s opposition to the teacher testing provision, Clinton won reelection in 1984 with 63% of the vote over Republican Woody Freeman, a contractor who had never run for public office (Lamis 1990: 257). In 1986 Clinton was easily reelected to a newly-established four-year term as governor over GOP former governor Frank White, who had unsuccessfully fought to delay implementation of the allegedly expensive improved education standards that the governor had fought for and who had claimed that school consolidation in rural areas would kill the towns (Blair and Barth 2005: 317).

Bill Clinton’s greatest strengths were his charisma, and his ability to personally connect with people. Clinton reportedly would “show up at every fish fry, at every Democratic party event, at every bake sale and shake every hand until he’d shaken them all” (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 180). He also made a special personal appeal to African Americans, attending their churches, visiting their homes, and attending their organizational dinners. His operatives also used black churches to maintain support for Governor Clinton (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 167, 175). As Clinton went into his last reelection campaign of 1990, Democrats benefited from successful businessman and ex-congressman and state attorney general Jim Guy Tucker’s willingness to run for lieutenant governor instead of challenging the party’s incumbent governor. Republicans though suffered a bitter primary featuring two former Democrats. Moderate 3-term congressman Tommy Robinson ended up losing to businessman Sheffield Nelson, a civic leader and former executive officer of Arkansas Louisiana Gas Company, in what became a personal feud over a financial deal involving a friend of both men (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 168, 170; Duncan 1989: 80). Proclaiming that “Ten Years is Enough,” Republican Nelson went on to blast Clinton as a tax-and-spend liberal whose expensive education proposals had failed to raise the state’s teachers’ salaries and other education indicators off of the nation’s bottom tier (Barth, Blair and Dumas 1999: 170; Allen and Portis 1992: 139). Clinton nevertheless won his last reelection with a 57.5% vote, though it was his lowest victory margin since 1982.

Clinton’s last major accomplishments as governor included a tax increase for education, which included teacher pay raises, requiring kindergartens statewide, enhanced preschool opportunities, and a scholarship program (Blair and Barth 2005: 317-318). As the last decade of the 20^th century began, there was little to suggest that Democratic political hegemony in Arkansas would soon be threatened. Democrats controlled every statewide elected office, held about 90% of state legislative seats, and had just reelected U.S. Senator Pryor without opposition (Table 9-2).

An Earthquake Ushers in a More Competitive Republican Party

Warning shocks of the coming GOP earthquake began with Clinton’s resignation as governor to assume the Presidency, whereupon Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker became governor. Waiting in the wings was Republican Mike Huckabee, just off of a respectable though losing campaign against Senator Dale Bumpers. In a July 1993 special election for lieutenant governor, Huckabee narrowly edged out lawyer and Democratic party activist Nate Coulter with 51% of the vote. The 33-year-old Democratic novice had less name recognition than Huckabee, and the small turnout special election saw heavier turnout by loyal Republicans and religious elements attracted by the Republican’s past leadership of the state Southern Baptist Convention. Democrat Coulter erred by taking the black vote for granted, created sympathy for Huckabee by attacking his wife’s position on the campaign payroll, and failed to get Tucker’s support due to the governor’s fear of a challenge by Coulter to his own position. Huckabee also ran the reformist campaign of a “rural populist” who was an outsider who would “clean-up-the-system” and “empower the people,” who was running against a Democratic political machine that catered to the special interests (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: quoted on 177; 176).

Republicans gained further hope when Lieutenant Governor Huckabee won reelection in 1994 with a landslide 59% of the vote over Democratic state senator Charlie Cole Chaffin. As Huckabee’s ads promised to fight crime and pursue bipartisanship in state government, his Democratic challenger ran short of campaign money and evoked grins over an ad that had her holding a shotgun while promising “criminal control,” not “gun control” (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 179). Republicans were not as lucky in the gubernatorial race, where once again Sheffield Nelson won a narrow and bitterly divided primary contest, this time after running “last-minute highly dubious charges against his chief opponent,” a state senator (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 179). Tucker, viewed as a competent manager of state government who had kept peace with major interest groups, was elected governor with a landslide 60% of the vote, though Nelson’s ad attacking the Democrat’s ethics which showed Tucker’s face in a witness box and “closed with the sound of a jail door slamming” was eerily prophetic (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 180). Before the earthquake hit, though, Tucker as governor passed numerous juvenile crime measures, and continued his predecessor’s focus on education by increasing funding for education below fourth grade and requiring that students pass an exam before graduating from high school (Blair and Barth 2005: 160, 319).

The earthquake hit in late May 1996 when a federal jury found Governor Tucker guilty of “two felony counts involving mail fraud and a conspiracy to deceive federal regulators” in the Whitewater financial affair (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 183). After first promising to resign, Tucker then changed his mind, provoking an outcry of public rage. After Lieutenant Governor Huckabee threatened to “call the legislature into session to begin impeachment proceedings,” Tucker finally resigned and Huckabee became governor (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 184). In the special election for lieutenant governor, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, the son of the former GOP governor, narrowly defeated Charlie Chaffin, after stressing that his name would help recruit new industry to the state, and after seeking black support. Rockefeller’s victory marked the first time since his father’s gubernatorial reign that Republicans had controlled two statewide offices (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 188-189). Rockefeller was reelected in the 1998 and 2002 state elections.

That these GOP gains were not mere accidents in a Democratic stronghold became clear in the 1996 U.S. senate race, where Republicans picked up their first U.S. senate seat since Reconstruction. Conservative congressman and religious radio station executive Tim Hutchinson, brother of unsuccessful 1986 U.S. senate hopeful Asa Hutchinson, won a fairly comfortable 53% vote total over state Attorney General Winston Bryant (Duncan and Lawrence 1997: 70). Though Bryant had served in state government for ten years in three statewide offices and had a reputation for “workmanlike competence and honesty,” his aggressiveness as attorney general had alienated many powerful interest groups, and he was also handicapped by a bitter party primary runoff campaign (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 182). Ideological issues surfaced during the general election, as Bryant blasted the Republican for being a Newt Gingrich clone who had tried to slash Medicare, while Hutchinson attacked the pro-choice Democrat as a liberal who would increase the national debt. Events that may have been decisive were the state supreme court criticizing a staff member in Bryant’s office for failing to meet filing deadlines in two criminal cases, which damaged the Democrat’s reputation for competence, as well as public sympathy for the Republican after an automobile accident badly injured his son (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 185).

The more competitive two-party nature of modern Arkansas was evident in the 1998 elections, when the two parties split victories in the elections for governor and U.S. senate. With Bumpers retiring from the Senate, Democrats nominated Blanche Lincoln, who as a former congresswoman had compiled a moderate liberal voting record, but as a senatorial candidate focused on welfare reform and a balanced budget while pledging to be an “independent” senator (Blair and Barth 2005: 100 quote; Duncan and Lawrence 1995: 68). Lincoln’s parents were farmers who had instilled in her such “bedrock values” as a “deep love for the Arkansas land,” and as a novice congressional candidate she had shown her love of people and of campaigning in rural areas by being “out there in the coffee shops, the farms, the lunch counters at noon” (Mikulski et al. 2000: 10, 1^st two quotes; 91, last quote; 88). As a senatorial candidate, Lincoln proceeded to focus on issues “important to families and people of both genders,” rather than permitting herself to be labeled as an exclusively female-obsessed candidate (Mikulski 2000: 186). Republican Senator Tim Hutchinson endorsed his friend and Christian right ally, state senator Fay Boozman, an endorsement that discouraged potentially stronger candidates from seeking the GOP nod (Wekkin 2003: 197-198). The inexperienced and socially conservative Boozman proceeded to blow his chances when he defended his position opposing an exception to a ban on abortion in the cases of rape or incest by claiming that women who were raped rarely got pregnant, “because fear triggers a hormonal change that blocks conception,” a process that he termed “God’s little protective shield” (Blair and Barth 2005: 78, 1^st quote; Duncan and Nutting 1999: 68, 2^nd quote). Though the Republican later apologized for his insensitive remarks, he received only 42% of the vote to Blanche Lincoln’s 55%.

Republicans fared much better in the 1998 gubernatorial race, where Mike Huckabee was elected governor with a landslide 60% of the vote to Democratic Harvard-educated lawyer Bill Bristow's 39%. Outspending the challenger by a 3-to-1 margin, the Republican governor benefited from a high public approval rating, because of public sympathy for the difficult situation under which he had become governor and because of his centrist policies (Wekkin 2003: 196-197). As an unelected governor, Huckabee had promoted the state’s business-friendly climate to business newspaper writers in a New York trip, and had honored the 40^th anniversary of the Little Rock Central High fiasco by renouncing what had happened as “evil” and “simply wrong” and then joining President Clinton in escorting the Little Rock Nine into the school (Blair and Barth 2005: quote on 1, 176).

Huckabee might be viewed as the Republicans’ first real “titan,” as one political scientist described him as “almost a Republican clone of Bill Clinton,” who is a “glib, gregarious former pastor of a very large Baptist congregation,” with “’people skills’, centrist tendencies, and even good luck reminiscent of Clinton’s” (Wekkin 2003: 196). Other political observers have compared the Republican to President Reagan as a “’big-picture’ politician who has a consistent clarity of ‘vision’ not muddled by details and a masterful ability to communicate in all media” (Blair and Barth 2005: 75). His social conservatism includes support for gun rights and opposition to abortion and gay rights (Blair and Barth 2005: 339). Huckabee’s extensive use of the media to promote his gubernatorial programs included a monthly radio call-in program broadcast statewide, an educational television call-in program, public service announcements, a sophisticated website, and three published books (Blair and Barth 2005: 179).

Huckabee’s first full term as governor demonstrated his pragmatic and ideologically inclusive nature. His accomplishments included convening an important economic development conference, enacting a public health program funded by the tobacco company lawsuit settlement and an interstate highway repair spending program, as well as improving education through enhanced student testing and such public school options as charter schools (Blair and Barth 2005: 5, 166, 321). Though Huckabee touted his accomplishments of job growth, rising education test scores, and the ARKids health care program, negative press reports over budget shortfalls, cuts in some Medicaid procedures, cost overruns for the state computer system, and ethics investigations produced a tight race in 2002 (Blair and Barth 2005: 348). Huckabee pulled out a reelection with 53% of the vote after a last-minute infusion of cash from the Republican Governors Association, which permitted him to outspend 7-term Democratic state treasurer Jimmie Lou Fisher by $1 million. He also targeted his campaign messages, stressing his African American appointments to black voters and on Christian radio programs accusing his Democratic challenger of being unclear on the gay rights issue of civil unions (Blair and Barth 2005: 350). Huckabee's second term saw him advocating improved prisoner rehabilitation, a tax increase to preserve social services, and school district consolidation in order to provide students with a richer curriculum (Blair and Barth 2005: 328, 339).

Democrats also benefited from the rise of a potential titan, Mark Pryor, son of the legendary David Pryor. Pryor was viewed as a moderate attorney general, where he had blocked telemarketing calls and sued the tobacco companies for smoking-related health problems (Blair and Barth 2005: 351; Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 56). Challenging first-term GOP Senator Hutchinson’s reelection in 2002, Pryor blasted the conservative incumbent for voting against such popular programs as “education, prescription drugs, the minimum wage, and Social Security,” and in one television ad the Democrat raised the plaque from his father’s senate desk that pledged that “Arkansas Comes First” (quote in Blair and Barth 2005: 351; Nutting and Stern 2001: 49). Already weakened by the incumbent’s well-publicized divorce and remarriage to a former staffer, Hutchinson’s campaign seemed to confirm Pryor’s charges that he “cared more about Washington than Arkansas” when he brought in President Bush and other administration officials to campaign for him (Blair and Barth 2005: 352). Countering GOP claims that the challenger was liberal on abortion and gun control, Pryor ran an ad of himself hunting and state Democrats sent four mailings to those holding hunting and fishing licenses stressing the Democrat’s love of hunting and his support for the 2^nd amendment (Blair and Barth 2005: 352). Pryor unseated the Republican incumbent with a respectable 54% of the vote, restoring Democratic party monopoly of both of the state’s U.S. senate seats, a situation shared by no other southern state after the 2004 elections two years later.

In the Senate Mark Pryor has combined a moderate liberal voting record with a record of being a deficit hawk, opposing partial birth abortion, and supporting criminalizing injury to the fetus in the course of a crime against a woman (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 55-56). Laying further claim to the title of future Democratic titan, Mark Pryor has been described as “eminently likable” with “mannerisms that looked so much like his father,” and having an ability to perform “amazingly well when talking directly to the television camera” (Blair and Barth 2005: 351). Also reflecting his father’s legendary love of people, Mark Pryor has taken the position that “People matter more than political parties” and conceded that both parties can offer some good ideas (Blair and Barth 2005: 101). After one term Pryor was so popular that the hapless Republicans failed to even field a candidate against him, so in 2008 he won his first reelection with 80% of the vote against a minor party (Green) candidate.

As senator, Blanche Lincoln has also showed some promise of becoming a new Democratic titan. Her overall moderate liberal voting record was further moderated by her membership in two “centrist” coalitions, her backing of President Bush’s education program and prescription drug plan, and her support for a balanced budget act and a constitutional amendment banning desecration of the flag (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 53-54; Blair and Barth 2005: 338; Mikulski 2000: 229). She also backed issues important to her state’s rural constituents, winning an extension in the deadline for farmers to purchase federal crop insurance necessitated by a private company’s halting the sales of its policy, and opposing U.S. trade sanctions on markets for agricultural exports in China and Cuba (Mikulski 2000: 154-155, 157, 175-176). With her ability to relate to her constituents, her being a duck hunter, and her reputation as “just plain nice,” Blanche Lincoln was able to spend a whopping $5.8 million to only $149,000 for her GOP challenger, state senator Jim Holt, as she coasted to reelection in 2004 with 56% of the vote (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 53 quote, 1169). Though the conservative evangelical Holt, who used the “Christian fish” symbol in his campaign material, had tried to make an issue of Lincoln’s opposition to a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, the Democratic senator responded that she already supported existed state law defining marriage as being between a man and a woman (Barth and Parry 2005: 147).

The 2006 campaign to replace the term limited governor Huckabee yielded the ruling Democratic Party another potential “titan.” Emerging victorious was Attorney General Mike Beebe, a man of humble origins who was born in a “tar-paper shack,” “to a single mother” and a father whom he “never met or talked to” (Blomeley 2006). Unopposed in every election during his twenty years in the state senate, Beebe was known for being a “consensus builder” who understood the “nuts and bolts of government” and who would bring people together, rather than being an “ideologue” or a “flamethrower” (Blomeley 2006). Beebe won 55.5% of the vote to 40.8% for Republican Asa Hutchinson, a former congressman and federal administrator in Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration, who had advocated killing the state sales tax on groceries and who opposed the consolidation of rural schools and wanted to give them flexibility from the state’s mandated 38 core courses. Endorsing Beebe as “a pragmatic, even-tempered, knowledgeable and forward-looking candidate deeply rooted in his community and his state,” the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette proceeded to blast Hutchinson for allegedly opening “the way to tear down all the educational standards that this state has finally started to make meaningful” (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 2006). Campaigning in Arkansas the weekend before the election, former President Clinton praised Beebe, who favored expanding pre-school and providing more job training and more need-based scholarships, as a man who “won’t need on-the-job training“ who was “more qualified to be governor than I was when you first elected me”. Clinton also blasted Hutchinson as “a Washington Republican,” and depicted the election as a battle between “common sense and common good against special-interest ideological extremism” (Blomeley and Kellams 2006, quotes in this and preceding sentence). With the death of Republican lieutenant governor Winthrop Rockefeller earlier in the year, Democrats regained even that office to reestablish their monopoly of sub-gubernatorial state executive offices.

The 2010 elections were a wake-up call to Arkansas Democrats that they were no longer the undisputed ruling party of the state, as Republicans knocked off U.S. Senator Lincoln and gained historic highs of three of the four U.S. house districts, half of the subgubernatorial statewide offices, and over forty percent of state legislative seats, though Democrats were able to easily reelect Governor Beebe and keep control of both state legislative chambers. Incensed that Lincoln was not liberal enough (she was rated by the ADA as liberal only 80% and 95% of the time in 2008 and 2009, and was rated conservative by the ACU a whopping 8% and 24% of the time), liberals such as the AFL-CIO labor union fought to deny her renomination, dragging her into a runoff primary with the party's lieutenant governor who held her to a razor-thin 52% victory (Greenhouse 2010). The resulting genuine liberal-conservative November battle with the state's sole GOP Congressman, John Boozman, saw incumbent Lincoln trounced in a landslide. Exit polls of voters found that 62% disapproved of President Obama's job performance, 61% believed that the federal government was doing too much, and that 53% believed that Lincoln was too liberal, and Republican Boozman won 83%, 77%, and 90% of the vote among these groups (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/results/polls/#ARS01p1). A more winning strategy for Democrats was to avoid the liberal label, as Governor Beebe distanced himself from the national Democratic party and stressed his work to bring new jobs to Arkansas, resulting in a state unemployment rate lower than the national average. Sweeping every region of the state, Beebe won the support of 59% of Independents and 79% of moderates, and even won 47% of the votes of self-identified conservatives (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/results/polls/#val=ARG00p1). The 2012 elections were also historical for Republicans, as they narrowly gained control of both chambers of the state legislature for the first time, while winning another House seat to gain control of all of the state's U.S. house seats, and providing a landslide margin for Romney.

The 2014 elections completed the reversal of the historic Democratic dominance of Arkansas that had started at least four years earlier. With President Obama having a 68% disapproval rating and with the Democratic party advantage in the state disappearing (33% of exit poll voters were Republicans while 28% were Democrats), Republicans won the governorship, their second U.S. senate seat, and all six subgubernatorial statewide offices. Desperately fighting to save his seat, Senator Mark Pryor ran an ad featuring his father, popular former governor and senator David Pryor, who defended his son's support for Obamacare by citing his son's own battle with insurance companies when he had had cancer. After Pryor attacked his opponent, Republican congressman Tom Cotton for having a "sense of entitlement" to the Senate job for having served in Iraq and Afghanistan in the Army, the 37-year-old Cotton ran a playful ad of himself standing at attention in front of his Drill Sergeant, George Norton, who had "taught me how to be a soldier: Accountability, humility, and putting the unit before yourself. That training stuck" (Camia 2014). In the gubernatorial race, Democratic former congressman Mike Ross faced Republican former congressman and former Drug Enforcement Administrator under President Bush Asa Hutchinson. Hutchinson appeared to learn from successful Democratic governors the importance of stressing state issues in gubernatorial races, as at campaign stops across the state he repeatedly stressed creating jobs, making public education more relevant to the employment marketplace, boosting tourism, criminal justice reform, and even winter road conditions (Dooley 2014). Independents broke for both Republicans, with Cotton winning 62% and Hutchinson 58% of them.

The 2016 election underscored the new era of GOP strength in Arkansas politics, as U.S. senator John Boozman won a landslide reelection over Democrat Conner Eldridge, a U.S. Attorney making his first bid for elected office. Blasting the Democrat as someone who would enable “a third term of Barack Obama� by increasing the size of the federal government, Boozman had admitted that both major party presidential candidates were flawed, and after victory stressed the "need to come together and find common ground to address the problems we face,� such as regulatory burdens on business, healthcare costs and national security concerns (Pettit 2016).

Republicans in 2018 and in 2020 continued to dominate elections, reelecting Governor Hutchinson in a landslide and reelecting an all-GOP slate of statewide officers in the 2018 state elections for the first time. Hutchinson touted his accomplishments of a $150 million tax cut and requiring that public high schools offer computer science classes, and pledged a new highway plan plus a teacher pay raise. Working with both parties in the legislature, he also defended keeping the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare but adding a work requirement to it (Associated Press 2018). His Democratic opponent was an executive director of a national non-profit focused on improving public education, but he lacked any public office experience. In 2020, GOP Senator Tom Cotton was re-elected with 67% of the vote over a Libertarian, as Democrats failed to even field a candidate after a failed Congressional nominee from two years previously dropped out of the race two hours after the candidate filing deadline had passed (Barth and Parry 2021).

Republicans maintained their dominance in 2022, easily electing Sarah Huckabee Sanders as governor and re-electing John Boozman as senator. Their victories earning over 60% of the vote paralleled the over 60% of state residents whose party identifications were Republican rather than Democratic (Arkansas Poll website). Sanders, President Trump's press secretary and the daughter of a former Republican governor, became the state's first woman governor after campaigning to phase out the state income tax, reduce violent crime, and keep the state very pro-life (Buckner 2022). Both losing Democrats were African Americans, with the senate nominee being a woman business owner and community activist, and the gubernatorial nominee being a male nuclear engineer and former executive director of the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub.

Arkansas Politics as Republicans Challenge Democratic Hegemony

Arkansas is the first Rim South state that we have studied, yet unlike the more competitive two-party history of some other Rim South states, it shares the heavily Democratic orientation of Deep South states, only from a more progressive history. Except for this progressive history helping to account for a two-term GOP governor in the late 1960s who defeated more racially conservative Democrats, Arkansas until the final years of the 20^th century was a Democratic party bastion. Not since Reconstruction had a Republican U.S. senator ever been elected, and except for a one-term governor who served only two years, Democrats dominated the governor’s office both before and after Rockefeller (Table 9-1).

After the civil rights movement, Democrats preserved their hegemony with a succession of three dynamic personalities- Dale Bumpers, David Pryor, and Bill Clinton- who each served as governor and then went on to national office, the first two to a combined seven terms in the U.S. senate. Republicans finally became a more competitive party halfway through the last decade of the 20^th century, as they elected and reelected a governor after his Democratic predecessor resigned after a felony conviction. Yet their brief capture of a U.S. senate seat soon vanished, and Democrats in 2007 continued to hold about three-fourths of state legislative seats and U.S. House seats, and all non-gubernatorial statewide office (Table 9-2).

Democrats maintained their hegemony, even after the civil rights movement when every other Rim South state elected one or two Republican U.S. senators, by attracting master politicians who were adroit at personally relating to the average voter. Dale Bumpers was elected governor as a young, honest, progressive newcomer, and was elected to the U.S. senate four times because of his “down-home” skills at relating to average constituents (Table 9-3). David Pryor also served two terms as governor, and his compassionate, folksy, humble, and personable “home style” won him three U.S. senate terms and extensive study by legendary political scientist Richard Fenno. Charismatic Bill Clinton was also a “people” person, who attended numerous events and went into African American homes and churches as he inspired passion among his supporters.

Arkansas Democrats were also skillful at avoiding the “liberal” label that GOP campaign opponents sought to tag them with. As governors, Bumpers, Pryor, and Clinton all pursued ideologically wide-ranging programs. Pryor was able to boast his numerous black and women appointments to state offices, while also running as a fiscal conservative who had kept state spending down. Though Clinton instituted many education programs often associated with a more liberal philosophy, such as preschool, lower class sizes, and a tax increase, he also enacted more accountability, requiring longer school years and testing of both teachers and students (Table 9-4). Though as U.S. Senators, Bumpers and Pryor by the end of their terms in the early 1990s were casting pretty liberal roll call votes, both were “Teflon” Senators to whom GOP opponents could not make the “liberal” label stick. Bumpers adroitly explained his opposition to President Reagan’s tax cuts by staking out a position as a deficit hawk, and in any event spending considerable time in his home state and publicizing the numerous federal projects that he had brought home. Senator Pryor accounted for his modest support for President Reagan’s program by explaining that he put “Arkansas first,” and he could boast accomplishments that benefited constituents of all ideological views, such as reducing federal waste among consultants, enacting a taxpayer bill of rights, and defending the rural electrification program.

Indeed, Democrats were so dominant in Arkansas politics that it seemed that only Democratic mistakes or division within their ranks could produce a Republican victory in non-presidential elections. African American and white moderate discontent with racially conservative Democratic gubernatorial candidates helped to produce Winthrop Rockefeller’s two gubernatorial election victories in the late 1960s. Public dissatisfaction with Democratic governor Bill Clinton’s first term performance on car tags and Cuban refugees and his perceived arrogance produced the brief tenure of Republican governor Frank White. Democratic campaign errors and disunity helped to elect Mike Huckabee lieutenant governor in a 1993 special election, and Democratic governor Tucker’s resignation after conviction of two felonies elevated the Republican to the governorship. A divisive Democratic primary, which produced a nominee whose actions as attorney general had alienated powerful interest groups, helped to elect Republican Tim Hutchinson as a one term U.S. senator.

Though Arkansas Democrats remain the dominant party, Republicans have made some important gains recently. The most prominent political offices finally began to draw competitive races between the two parties. Beginning in 1996, Republicans had their four best consecutive U.S. senate vote totals and their two best consecutive gubernatorial races, achieving percentages of the U.S. senate two-party vote of 53%, 43%, 46%, and 44%, and winning 60% and 53% of the two-party gubernatorial vote. Even more critical, in both 2002 and 2004, state polls showed Republicans achieving an historic 46% (to 54% for Democrats) of the public's partisan identifications (Table 9-2). Republicans could take heart in the successes of former governor Mike Huckabee, whose personable demeanor, extensive use of the media, and ideologically inclusive program of improved schools, roads, health care, and economic development served as a beacon to any GOP hopes of building any political titans to rival the Democrats' Big Three (Table 9-4). Those gains for the state GOP were temporarily lost in the national Democratic surge of 2006-2008, as Republicans won only 42% of the vote in a losing gubernatorial race, failed to even field a senate candidate, and saw its share of the two-party split in party identification drop to around 40%. To add insult to injury, Republicans lost their solitary sub-gubernatorial statewide elective office, and continued to be outnumbered in the state legislature by about three-to-one. Republican fortunates turned dramatically around in the national GOP landslide of 2010, as they defeated a U.S. Senate Democratic incumbent and won half of the state's subgubernatorial statewide offices.

Yet Arkansas Democrats remain the majority party. After the 2004 national elections, Democrats retained only four of the South’s 22 U.S. Senators, and even in such historically Democratic offices as the state legislatures Republicans now controlled a majority of seats in 11 of the states’ 22 legislative chambers. Yet Arkansas Democrats could boast that they were the only southern state to be represented in the U.S. senate by two Democrats, as well as tout their state as the only Rim South state where Republicans even after the 1994 Republican tsunami had been unable to gain control of either state legislative chamber. Furthermore, both Democratic U.S. senators showed some promise of following in the footsteps of their state’s legendary Democratic senatorial predecessors. Blanche Lincoln, a “just plain nice” person and like many constituents a duck hunter, promptly joined two centrist organizations and proceeded to back President Bush on two key education and prescription drug measures while also seeking to protect the American flag from desecration. Mark Pryor, a pro-life deficit hawk who backed gun rights, echoed the personable demeanor of his senatorial father, pledging to put "Arkansas First" over mere partisanship. Even after the nationally disastrous 2010 elections when Democratic star Lincoln was knocked off by a Republican, state Democrats continued to control both chambers of the state legislature, a situation unmatched in any other southern state, and easily reelected their centrist governor, thereby joining only North Carolina as a southern state with a Democratic governor.

Democrats could also take hope from the GOP’s own divisions and forays into ideological excesses. Divisive Republican primaries helped to reelect as governors Bill Clinton in 1990 and Jim Guy Tucker in 1994. Blanche Lincoln was able to keep Bumpers’ senate seat Democratic in 1998 after Republicans nominated a “Christian right” candidate who proceeded to anger many with an insensitive statement about how rape victims seldom got pregnant. Mark Pryor in 2002 unseated a GOP senatorial incumbent whose consistently conservative record made him an easy target for the claim that he cared more about supporting the Republicans in Washington than he cared about serving the people of Arkansas (Table 9-3). Such GOP conservatism reflects the values of the party’s grassroots organization, where in a 2001 survey fully 67% of county committee members labeled themselves as “very conservative” and 29% as “somewhat conservative” with the tiny remainder being “moderate.” Democratic county committee members, on the other hand, were a far more ideologically inclusive party with 45% calling themselves liberals, 25% conservative and the remainder moderates (Barth 2003: 118-119). As such, the near monolithic conservatism of the Arkansas GOP may make it difficult for Republicans to produce the string of personable and inclusive political titans, who can relate well to a wide range of Arkansas voters, that the Democrats have been able to provide.

Table 9-1

Governors and U.S. Senators and Their Parties in Modern Arkansas

	Democrats			Republicans
	Governors	Senators	Senators	Governors	Senators	Senators
1970	Bumpers*	McClellan	Fulbright
1972	Bumpers*	McClellan*	Fulbright
1974	D. Pryor*	McClellan	Bumpers*
1976	D. Pryor*	McClellan	Bumpers
1978	Clinton*	D. Pryor*	Bumpers
1980		D. Pryor	Bumpers*	White*
1982	Clinton*	D. Pryor	Bumpers
1984	Clinton*	D. Pryor*	Bumpers
1986	Clinton*	D. Pryor	Bumpers*
1988	Clinton	D. Pryor	Bumpers
1990	Clinton*	D. Pryor*	Bumpers
1992	Tucker+	D. Pryor	Bumpers*
1994	Tucker*	D. Pryor	Bumpers
1996			Bumpers	Huckabee+	Hutchinson*
1998			Lincoln*	Huckabee*	Hutchinson
2000			Lincoln	Huckabee	Hutchinson
2002		M. Pryor*	Lincoln	Huckabee*
2004		M. Pryor	Lincoln*	Huckabee
2006	Beebe*	M. Pryor	Lincoln
2008	Beebe	M. Pryor*	Lincoln
2010	Beebe*	M. Pryor				Boozman*
2012	Beebe	M. Pryor				Boozman
2014				Hutchinson*	Cotton*	Boozman
2016				Hutchinson	Cotton	Boozman*
2018				Hutchinson*	Cotton	Boozman
2020				Hutchinson	Cotton*	Boozman
2022				Sanders*	Cotton	Boozman*

Note: Cell entries indicate the governors and U.S. Senators elected in or serving during the years listed at the left.

* Indicates that the officeholder was elected in that year.

+ Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker became governor in 1992 after Clinton was elected President.

+ Lieutenant Governor Mike Huckabee became governor in 1996 after Tucker’s resignation after conviction of a felony.

Table 9-2. Republican Growth in Arkansas

Year of Election	Pres. Vote (% Rep)	U.S. Senate Seats* (% Rep)	Gov. Pty.*	Party Ident. (% Rep of 2 pty.)	U.S. House Seats (% Rep)	State Senate Seats (% Rep)	State House Seats (% Rep)	Sub-Gov. Office (% Rep)
1970	NA	0	D-34	22+	25	3	2	0
1972	69	0 (39)	D-25	NA	25	3	1	0
1974	NA	0 (15)	D-34	NA	25	3	3	0
1976	35	0	D-17	NA	25	3	5	0
1978	NA	0 (18)	D-37	26	50	0	6	0
1980	50	0 (41)	R-52	21+	50	3	7	0
1982	NA	0	D-45	24+	50	9	7	0
1984	61	0 (43)	D-37	31+	25	11	10	0
1986	NA	0 (38)	D-36	25+	25	11	9	0
1988	57	0	Dem	NA	25	11	11	0
1990	NA	0 (0)	D-42.5	NA	25	11	9	0
1992	40	0 (40)	Dem	NA	50	14	10	0
1994	NA	0	D-40	25	50	20	12	17
1996	41	50 (53)	Rep*	32+	50	20	14	17
1998	NA	50 (43)	R-61	38+	50	20	24	17
2000	53	50	Rep	39	25	23	30	17
2002	NA	0 (46)	R-53	46	25	23	30	17
2004	55	0 (44)	Rep	46	25	23	28	17
2006	NA	0	D-42	39+	25	23	25	0
2008	60	0 (0)	Dem	41	25	21	28	0
2010	NA	50 (61)	D-34	43	75	43	45	50
2012	62	50	Dem	48	100	54	51	50
2014	NA	100 (59)	R-57	47	100	61	52	100
2016	64	100 (62)	Rep	59	100	74	76	100
2018	NA	100	R-67	53	100	74	76	100
2020	64	100 (100)	Rep	66	100	79	78	100
2022	NA	100 (68)	R-64	61	100	83	82	100

* In 1996 GOP Lieutenant Governor Huckabee became governor after Tucker=s resignation.

+ Pooled results from more than one poll conducted that year.

Note: NA indicates not available or no election held.

Source: The Almanac of American Politics, 1972-1984; CQ=s Politics in America, 1984-2006; Barth, Blair, and Dumas (1999); Blair and Savage (1988), Wright, Erikson, and McIver (1985), Barth (2003), Blair and Barth (2005), Lamis (1990), Dowdle and Wekkin (2007); Jones (2017); and websites: http://www.arelections.org;

http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/elections_election_results.html;

http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/senators.html, plus the Arkansas Poll website.

Table 9-3

Factors Affecting Elections of Arkansas Governors and U.S. Senators

Officeholder (party-year 1^st, imp. elect.)	Issues	Candidate Attributes	Party/Campaign Factors	Performance Factors
Governors
Dale Bumpers (D-1970)	Progressive vs. racial Dem.	Young, honest, newcomer		Civic leader
David Pryor (D-1974)	Moderate, nursing homes		Business leaders support	St. rep, congressman
Bill Clinton (D-1978)	Compromiser, progressive			Atty. Gen, pro-consumer
Frank White (R-1980)	Car tags, Cuban refugee riots	Dem. aloof, arrogant		Businessman
Bill Clinton (D- 1982, 90)	Unemployment, high utility rate/	Apologizes/ charisma	Passionate camp. workers/ divided GOP	/people-person, event attender, blacks cultivate
Jim G. Tucker (D- 1994)			Divisive GOP primary	Competent, groups satisfied
Mike Huckabee (R- 1998, ‘02)	Pro-business, race lib. GOP/ centrist gov.	/people-person	GOP spending advantage/nat’l Rep $, target ad	Succession sympathy/media usage
Mike Beebe (D- 2006, '10)	Pro-education vs. anti-educ./attracted jobs to state	Poor Dem, consensus build	Clinton camp. for Dem./stressed state issues	Atty. Gen., experienced
Asa Hutchinson (R- 2014, '18)	Rep stresses state issues, like jobs, education/ cut taxes, classroom computer science	/Dem lacks elective office experience	Obama unpopular, Rep wins most Independents/ inclusive Gov. keeps Medicaid expansion but with work required	Rep former congressman, DEA chief
Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R- 2022)	Rep anti-tax, pro-life, anti-crime	Rep Trump aide, governor's daughter	big GOP party id edge
Senators
John McClellan (D- 1942, ’72)	/Dem opponent “liberal”		/much hand- shaking campaigning	/federal money delivered
Dale Bumpers (D- 1974, ’80, ’86, ’92)	/liberal defused by conser. acts/anti-deficit/GOP conservative	Down-home vs. arrogant Dem.///	///GOP wife staffer, nat’l GOP blasts Arkansas	//federal projects, time at home/
David Pryor (D- 1978, ’84)	Anti-special interests Dem./ideology	/compassionate, personable, humble, folksy	/tireless person-to-person campaign	/puts Arkansas first
Tim Hutchinson (R- 1996)	Ideological battle, conser. Republican	GOP son injured	Divisive Dem. primary, Dem anger groups	Atty gen. competence criticized
Blanche Lincoln (D- 1998, ‘04)	Moderate Dem vs. Christian right GOP/	Ruralness /”just plain nice” person	Insensitive GOP rape comment/ duck hunter, $	2-term congresswoman, cong. Staffer/
Mark Pryor (D- 2002)	GOP too conservative	GOP divorce	“Arkansas 1^st”, pro-gun hunter	Moderate atty. general
John Boozman (R- 2010, '16)	Dem too liberal/Rep. claims Dem for big government, Obama agenda		Dem Pres. unpopular/Rep avoids controversial Pres. race	10-year GOP congressman/Rep stresses listening tour across state
Tom Cotton (R- 2014)	Dem backed Obamacare	Rep young, war veteran	Dem Pres. unpopular, Rep runs playful ad	Rep 6th generation Ark, cattle farming family

Table 9-4

Programs of Arkansas Governors and U.S. Senators

Officeholder (party-year 1^st elected)	Progressive Policies	Neutral Policies	Conservative Policies
Governors
Dale Bumpers (D-1970)	Progressive tax for education, pro-consumer, vulnerable	Agency consolidate, civil service exams
David Pryor (D-1974)	Black and women appointments	High wage industry	Fiscal conservative, anti-spending
Bill Clinton (D-1978)	Rioting Cuban refugees	Raises car tags
Frank White (R-1980)			Scientific creationism
Bill Clinton (D- 1982)	Lower class sizes, tax hike for education, kindergarten,preschool	Teacher raise, longer school yr., student testing	Teacher testing
Jim Guy Tucker (D- 1992 succeed, 1994 elected)	Increased early grades education funding	Student testing	Juvenile crime measures
Mike Huckabee (R- 1996 succeed, 1998 elected)	ARKids health program	Econ. dev., roads, student tests, pro-school consolidate	Charter schools
Mike Beebe (D- 2006)	Expanded Medicaid under Obamacare	Jobs created, grocery sales tax cut	Balanced state budget
Asa Hutchinson (R- 2014)		Computer science in classrooms, work requirement added to Medicaid expansion	Cut taxes
Senators
John McClellan (D- 1942)		Delivers federal money to state	Conservative, states’ rights
J. William Fulbright (1944)	Anti-Vietnam War	Moderate liberal record
Dale Bumpers (D- 1970s/ 1980s-90s)	/Liberal record, anti-defense systems, prayer, bal. budget	Moderate liberal/ delivers federal $, time spent in Ark.
David Pryor (D- 1978/1990s)	/Liberal record	Moderate record/anti-waste, pro-taxpayer, rural
Tim Hutchinson (R- 1996)			Conservative, fiscal and social
Blanche Lincoln (D- 1998/2008-9)	Moderate liberal voting record/Liberal vote record	Two centrist coalitions member	Flag amendment, pro-Bush programs/Anti-labor union vote
Mark Pryor (D- 2002)	Moderate liberal voting record	Bipartisan, personable	Deficit hawk, pro-life
John Boozman (R- 2010)			Conservative voting record