Incumbent Rep. Keith Brooks, R-Little Rock, faces Democratic challenger James Henry Bartolomei in the race to represent Arkansas House District 78.
Long a Republican stronghold, the district covers a wide swath of western Pulaski County, northern Saline County and a small part of eastern Perry County. It includes the communities of Roland and Ferndale, as well as parts of Little Rock, Benton and Bryant.
Little Rock Public Radio reached out to Brooks for an interview, to which he initially agreed. He then failed to respond to further requests to schedule an interview.
Brooks is a native Arkansan and owns an insurance agency in Saline County. He holds an MBA from Harding University. He narrowly won his first Republican primary in 2020, then went on to easily defeat his Democratic opponent. He ran unopposed for re-election two years ago.
Brooks has been a prominent supporter of some of the more high-profile parts of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ legislative agenda. He was the lead House sponsor of the omnibus education bill known as the Arkansas LEARNS Act, and supported the governor's criminal justice platform and efforts to roll back the Freedom of Information Act.
In an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Brooks said he’ll continue to focus on education and on rolling out the LEARNS Act, in particular improving reading scores and emphasizing career and technical education. He said he’s against proposals to hold private and religious schools receiving state tax dollars to the same standards as public schools. He says he’ll also support further cuts to the state’s income tax, and is against any rollbacks to the state’s near-total ban on abortion.
Democrat James Henry Bartolomei is Brooks' lone challenger in the race. He’s a Little Rock-based attorney specializing in copyright law. He’s originally from northeast Connecticut but has lived in Arkansas for the past seven years. He holds degrees from American University in Washington D.C. and from Suffolk University in Boston.
Bartolomei cites three main issues as his reasons for running for office; healthcare, education and government transparency. He says he's also running simply so that there’s more Democratic resistance to the governor’s priorities.
“She has a supermajority, and nothing’s going to happen unless we elect more Democrats to come to the table and create checks and balances for her,” he told Little Rock Public Radio.
Bartolomei says extremism and one-party rule haven’t served the state very well. He also says he’s known Gov. Sanders since they were both interns working on Capitol Hill.
“I know I can work with her, I get along with her. I don’t agree with her on every issue, but I think that she needs good checks and balances because I think that will make better government here in Arkansas.”
Bartolomei feels the Arkansas LEARNS Act could redirect resources from already-underfunded public schools; also, that some of the contracts involved in the rollout of the law are sending tax dollars to out-of-state companies. He’s also worried about where the funding will come from.
“My opponent can’t answer that question, so I think it’s wildly irresponsible and fiscally dangerous for the legislature to have passed that without any funding source.”
Along similar lines, Bartolomei is also concerned about the governor’s goal to eventually phase out the state’s income tax.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to tax cuts, but you have to do it responsibly. And I think if you just willy-nilly cut taxes and try to get us where Tennessee or Texas are, for instance, then you’re going to either have to raise property taxes or raise sales taxes," he said. "Those monies have to come from somewhere, particularly if we’re investing in education, roads and bridges, public safety, those sorts of things.”
Bartolomei is in favor of rolling back the state’s abortion ban. He says his support for reproductive rights stems from his wife’s experience giving birth to their two children.
“They were really difficult births, and the doctors told my wife that if she got pregnant again, she would die. I have a fundamental problem with my opponent or the legislature dictating healthcare decisions on issues like reproductive rights.”
Bartolomei says that attitude of limited government extends to other policies we’ve seen pass through the legislature on more “culture war” type issues like healthcare access and rights for trans and nonbinary Arkansans. He says the legislature has spent too much time “manufacturing solutions to problems that don’t exist” while ignoring real problems faced by residents.
While Brooks leads in the polls, Bartolomei thinks he has a real chance at flipping District 78. He estimates about 80% of voters are more moderate and “persuadable.”
And while he calls Arkansas a “lost cause” when it comes to national politics, he says serving in the legislature would give him more of an opportunity to affect change in Arkansans’ lives.
“But unless you give voters a choice, unless you see that the Democrats are fighting for your freedoms, and the Republicans are trying to make you sicker, poorer, less wealthy and less safe, then you’ve really got a choice at the ballot box in November.”
