From the Arkansas Advocate:
Five Arkansas Democrats are expected to vie for the party’s nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton’s reelection bid next year, with one candidate formally announcing his campaign Wednesday at the state Capitol.
James Russell III of Little Rock had previously announced on social media that he would seek to challenge Cotton. Russell was among five Democratic candidates in the 2022 gubernatorial primary election, losing to Chris Jones.
“We need elected leaders in office who are willing to work for the people, not for the corporations and not for the special interests,” Russell told reporters Wednesday. “We need someone who will come down and listen to them here in public, have the difficult conversations and then have the spine to stand up for their convictions… That leader, I feel, is me.”
Russell is from Shreveport, Louisiana, and moved to Arkansas in 1991. He holds a bachelor’s degree in general studies from the University of Central Arkansas.
His wife, Wendy Newsam, is a mental health counselor, and Russell’s work running “the business side” of her practice has made him familiar with the mental health field and the health insurance industry, he said.
“I deal with people when they are at their worst because they’re suffering, and to be perfectly honest, a lot of what we’ve seen in the past 11 years has been suffering directly because of policies put in place by people like Tom Cotton,” Russell said.
He criticized Cotton for “begging for funds” from the federal government after severe storms hit Arkansas last year. Cotton has a history of voting against federal disaster relief.
Russell said his political values include standing up for human rights, such as supporting women’s reproductive autonomy and opposing Israel’s mass killings of civilians in occupied Palestinian territory.
He said he believes it’s possible for a Democratic candidate to defeat Cotton, a two-term incumbent in a state that has put Republicans in statewide office consistently for a decade.
“Democrats in this state have a long history of talking about these mythical voters they can’t reach, but I genuinely think it’s because they’re not offering the [right] policies, they’re not speaking to the voters who choose to stay at home” instead of voting, Russell said.
He said he plans to travel throughout the state to connect with voters and will meet with the Lonoke County Democrats on Thursday.
Any of his Democratic primary opponents are welcome to speak at his campaign stops because “it is not all about me, it is all about us” during what he expects to be “a heavily contested but ultimately very fruitful primary season,” Russell said.
Hallie Shoffner, a Newport farmer and businesswoman, was the first Democratic candidate to announce her plans to challenge Cotton in May. Lewisville Mayor Ethan Dunbar filed a Federal Election Commission statement of candidacy in the primary on Aug. 19.
Additionally, Jonathan Pittman of Forrest City and Dan Whitfield of Bella Vista have both filed FEC statements of candidacy in the Democratic Senate primary.
So far no one has announced a campaign or filed paperwork to challenge Cotton in the Republican primary.
Cotton officially announced his re-election campaign on Feb. 27. He was first elected to the Senate in 2014 and is chairman of the Intelligence Committee.
