A retired Army colonel is kicking off his campaign to represent parts of central Arkansas in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Marcus Jones is running as a Democrat to unseat U.S. Rep. French Hill of Little Rock. Hill has represented Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District since 2015.
Speaking at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in Little Rock Thursday, Jones said he plans to offer an alternative to voters who are fed up with the current state of GOP politics.
“Arkansans are sick and tired of extremism, and right now the Republican Party represents extremism. And we need to look at the 80% of people that are in that middle, and they need a representative and that’s what I’m ready to do,” he said.
Jones briefly mentioned two of Hill’s unsuccessful Democratic challengers, state Sen. Clarke Tucker and former Sen. Joyce Elliott, calling them “amazing” candidates. Both candidates, Tucker in 2018 and Elliott in 2020, received about 45% of the vote.
The boundaries of Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District have shifted since Tucker and Elliott’s campaigns; it now encompasses less of traditionally left-leaning Pulaski County, and includes a larger swath of more rural White, Faulkner, Perry and Saline counties. When asked how he would go about securing support in those areas, Jones said veteran outreach would be a key strategy.
Jones cited his opponent’s initial lack of support for a bill expanding healthcare access for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals.
“There may be people that discuss that they support veterans, but there is very little actual representation. In the initial roll call vote of the PACT Act, my opponent voted against it,” he said. “When the ceremonial re-vote happened, he realized he was on the wrong side of history and changed his vote.”
Jones also took the opportunity in Thursday’s news conference to introduce the first chair of his campaign committee; Pulaski County Circuit and County Clerk Terri Hollingsworth.
“He’s honest, and he’s stepping up to serve Arkansas families like only a veteran can. He’s studied the district and he knows his pathway to victory… he knows that this district can be won, and that going straight to veterans and asking for their vote, that’s going to kick off this general election,” Hollingsworth said.
Jones said expanding medical and mental health care to veterans will be a top priority if he’s elected to Congress, as will passing “common-sense” gun legislation such as regulating untraceable “ghost guns.” He was also joined in Thursday’s news conference by Richard Fierro, a former Army colleague who’s credited with helping subdue the gunman in a 2022 mass shooting at a Colorado Springs nightclub.
If elected, Jones would be the first Democrat to represent the state’s 2nd Congressional District in more than a decade.
