Republican State Representative Brandon Achor says he chose not to seek a third term representing Arkansas House District 71 because he wanted to spend more time legislating, and less time campaigning.
“The Senate provides me [...] an opportunity to be more effective at a faster pace than the current House position.”
Achor hopes to replace term-limited state Senator Jane English in District 13. The district encompasses a large swath of northern Pulaski County stretching from Maumelle, through Camp Robinson, and parts of North Little Rock, Sherwood, and Jacksonville.
Achor, who is a pharmacist and cancer survivor, says he was motivated to run for office while treating patients during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It was just an extreme level of discontent and fear,” Achor said. “That made me think, ‘how do I take this opportunity of serving these people through this exceptional and terrifying pandemic, and go beyond the pharmacy counter and advocate for them in all these other areas?’”
But in order to continue his work in the legislature, Achor will have to battle off an opponent: Democratic nominee Allison Grigsby Sweatman.
“I’m running for state senate because if I were to put it in one word, the word would be ‘motherhood’. I’m the mother of two kids, both of my kids have disabilities.”
Sweatman, a social worker in North Little Rock, said navigating healthcare and special education systems as a caregiver and provider have shown her Arkansas families need more from their government.
“Family-by-family, we’re not going to really make much progress in Arkansas doing better by families that need help if we’re not changing the systems. And in order to change the systems we need to elect new people,” Sweatman said.
This is Sweatman’s second time seeking the Senate District 13 seat: in 2022 she ran unsuccessfully against the longtime Republican incumbent Senator English. That same year, Achor won his first election in the statehouse.
But in 2026, Sweatman thinks voters are looking for a change:
“People are struggling in what seem to be more visceral, cost of living, like punch-you-in-the-gut kind of ways.” Sweatman said. “Whenever I talk to people about gas prices these are not theoretical or even political conversations, this is about survival.”
Achor said he’s the better choice for the seat because his past experience as a legislator and the relationships he has within government will help him get things done.
“When you want your state senator to be effective they have to be able to work with our governor. They have to be able to work with our House of Representatives, with our state Senate, and with the various agencies in order for a bill to pass and come to life,” Achor said. “I have the perfect amount of experience to understand the nuances of what that requires.”
Achor and his wife, who is also a pharmacist, own several pharmacies across Central Arkansas and the Delta region. Achor believes his interaction with patients keeps him accountable to constituents.
“I will see the repercussions of what we do and don’t do the very next day at the pharmacy counter, where I take care of people of all different backgrounds, all different political spectrums, all different illness spectrums, all different socioeconomic spectrums.”
Sweatman says she would host regular town halls to hear what constituents need from her.
“Being face-to-face with the people who are trusting you to go to the capitol and make laws on their behalf is something that I believe now more than ever we need from sitting legislators,” Sweatman said.
Sweatman is also critical of her opponent's recent performance in the House, noting his absence on the first day of the 2026 fiscal session.
Achor confirmed he missed the first day because he was attending The Masters’ golf tournament in Georgia.
“I’m not here to smear anyone but I am out here to say if you are duly elected by people who are putting their faith and their trust in you to go to the capitol and cast votes on their behalf, the very least you can do is show up.”
In response, Achor told Little Rock Public Radio he was still able to be effective and vote during the session. He said attending the tournament was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” and something he would do again under the same circumstances.
“The opening day of fiscal session is largely ceremonial,” he said. “I thought that my past history of being an effective legislator was going to carry through regardless of my attendance that day.”
Achor says his top priority in the senate would be to fix affordability issues through three lenses: address high healthcare costs, lower property taxes, and provide childcare support for working families. He’d try again on a bill he previously sponsored for a new childcare tax credit.
“This was a bipartisan bill that would have allowed employers to pay for their employees childcare either directly or provide it onsite at their place of employment, and receive a tax credit for doing so,” Achor said.
“If childcare was free tomorrow there’s not enough space to take the children, so we have to provide incentives for expansion in that market.”
Sweatman says her top priorities also include tax relief, with a focus on fuel taxes to bring immediate relief from high gas prices due to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.
“Until we have some relief from the forces outside of Arkansas that we don’t have any control over, we need to give people relief from what they’re paying at the pump right now,” Sweatman said, adding another way to bring relief to Arkansans is lowering the states’ 6.5% sales tax.
“Sales taxes hit working people far harder than they hit people who generate larger incomes for their households,” Sweatman said “So whenever we're talking about a family that spends, say $800 on goods outside of their grocery budget, by the end of the year it adds up to the thousands.”
Both candidates say healthcare is at the top of their mind amid uncertainty about the state’s Medicaid expansion program and high numbers of families waiting for a spot on the CES Waiver, which helps individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities receive at-home care.
“If we’re going to take people off the CES waiver waitlist–and we should–we have to make sure that the caregivers, the services, the various needs that that waiver will meet can actually be provided,” she said. “It would be even more heartbreaking for us to take them off the waiver list only for them to realize they’re going to have to wait another year to actually get what they need.”
Achor says the state should also find ways to keep healthcare workers who can provide essential services in the state.
“I see the need firsthand [...] and my goal would be to expedite resources and opportunities that are justifiable and auditable to move that as quickly as possible,” Achor said. “here has to be an incentive for people to enter into that field.”
Sweatman says data center policies are also top-of-mind. She says, while she would support a data center in her district if a plurality of constituents are for it, she’s in favor of moratoria that would allow communities to understand how the data center will impact them before officials and businesses sign agreements.
“An average working person shouldn’t be having to study the ways that data centers embed themselves in their communities and whether or not it would actually be good for their community," Sweatman said. "But Arkansans are showing up, doing just that, and using their precious time and resources to do that, and so I think we need to listen.”
Achor takes a slightly different approach, saying constituents should first work with their local governments to decide if a data center is right for their community. He says the state should only step in if the local government acts in opposition to the desires and needs of their constituents.
“My job would be to make sure that my constituents get their needs met, and if their needs aren’t being met by their current elected officials at city council and quorum courts, to step in and resolve them from the state perspective,” Achor said.
“I do not want to see any sort of financial harm or impact to Senate District 13 or the state of Arkansas.”
Senate District 13 voters will pick their next senator on November 3rd.
