Arkansas Republicans usually expect a wipeout.
This state is red. Republicans control the governor’s office and every other statewide position. They also have a supermajority in both chambers of the state legislature.
But one poll shows the U.S. Senate race may be different. The August Talk Business & Politics -Hendrix College Poll shows Democrat Hallie Shoffner leading Republican Sen. Tom Cotton slightly among likely voters.
Another non-partisan poll released in August has her losing to Cotton by double digits, but by a slimmer margin than other Democrats who have run for statewide office.
Shoffner grew up off a “gravel county road…in the middle of nowhere.” She’s from Northeast Arkansas – a place called Shoffner, to be exact.
"It’s not a town, it’s a community, but it is on the highway map technically," she said. "I mean, there are ten people. We’re all related. It’s not that impressive. But that’s where I grew up."
She's a Democrat and a farmer. She comes from six generations of farmers in fact. Her upbringing and background help her understand independent-minded rural voters, she said.
"My cousin is a Republican. We don’t agree on 15% of the things we talk about, but that 85%, I mean, that’s shared values. That’s shared economic understanding. That’s a shared understanding of what it means to grow up in rural Arkansas and to live there and try to make a life there," she said.
Libertarian candidate Jeff Wadlin wants to provide another option. He wants to be a candidate for people who aren’t satisfied with either party.
The self-described pragmatic-centrist views libertarianism as a way to govern using the best ideas from both sides.
“A big part of my campaign is, I say, ‘It’s not us versus them. It’s just us.’ Like, we’re all in it together." he said. "The two parties try to inflame us with these culture war issues to pit us against each other, you know, to try to win our votes, and then promptly go to D.C. and represent their special interests."
Cotton has been a staple in U.S. politics for over a decade. He represented Arkansas' 4th Congressional District for one term beginning in 2013. He began his first term in the U.S. Senate in 2015.
He has served as a senator for two terms and is vying for his third. Cotton is the chair of the Senate Republican Conference, an organization that works to inform the media about the opinions and activities of Republican senators. He is also chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Little Rock Public Radio was unable to schedule an interview with Sen. Cotton, despite reaching out multiple times. The offer for an interview still stands.
Shoffner has made farming a focal point of her campaign. She worked on her family farm before it went under last year. Across the state, the issue starts with the profit margin for farmers, she said.
"[Farming is] the best job in the world if you’re making money. If you’re not making money like we didn’t in the last two to three years, especially at the very end before we closed, it will eat you alive," she said.
"I mean, there’s a reason that Arkansas leads the nation in farm bankruptcies and farmer suicides. It’s because farming, when you’re not making any money, is also the worst job in the world," she continued.
To her, farming policy in the U.S. has incentivized standard, high-volume crops, Shoffner said. She described this as a policy of farming "fencerow to fencerow." The emphasis on certain crops has made growers more susceptible to the impacts of trade wars and military conflicts, like those going on currently, she said.
Part of the solution to Shoffner is wielding the power of the federal government to provide markets for farmers through programs like SNAP and enabling farmers to grow specialty crops, or what she calls “food that people eat.”
According to Wadlin, part of the issue with agriculture in the U.S. is government intervention. He offers New Zealand as a model for what the federal government should do.
“New Zealand was subsidizing a lot of their farmers, kind of like America is today. But that all fell apart in the ‘80s. And so New Zealand deregulated. And there was a bit of pain because folks had to, you know, readjust," he said. "But what they did was they followed the money ... and that has been a very successful transition.”
Wadlin sees recent trade wars and the conflict in Iran as instances where farmers would be better off if the government “literally did nothing.”
Cotton in November of last year called for the USDA to prioritize assistance to Arkansas farmers who are “still recovering from Joe Biden’s disastrous economic policies.”
The senator voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending bill passed in 2025, which had some measures to help farmers like tax breaks. He has also come out in support of fellow Arkansas Sen. John Boozman’s Farm Bill, a package of legislation that focuses on agriculture and food programs.
Wadlin is critical of the government’s foreign policy decisions. He called the war in Iran is financially irresponsible and supports a diplomatic solution to prevent the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“If you think about all the wars we’ve been in since World War II – Vietnam, Korea, Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan, now Iran – the only war we ever won was Desert Storm. And why did we win that war? Because the only war you can win is a war that has a clear definition of winning,” he said.
Israel is an important U.S. ally, Wadlin said. He takes issue with how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu handled the war in Gaza. He said the U.S. shouldn’t give aid to countries, including Israel, without getting something in return.
Shoffner wants to see an end to the Iran war. It’s critical for American affordability that the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway for oil trade, reopens, she said.
In a broader sense, Shoffner wants the U.S. should reevaluate its military aid to foreign countries and involvement in foreign wars in the face of struggles at home.
“Why do we have elected officials, like Tom Cotton, who seem to be willing to spend any amount of money and time and resources outside the borders of the United States and Arkansas," she said.
"I do not believe that we need to be writing anybody a blank check, and that’s what it feels like right now. It feels like we’ve gotten away from fiscal responsibility," Shoffner added.
Cotton opposed a war powers resolution meant to reign in the war in Iran. He is also an ardent supporter of Israel. In 2024, he called the anti-Israel protests on college campuses a “revolting display,” in a Fox News interview.
As far as domestic issues go, Wadlin said he believes there’s a place for welfare in the U.S. He’d like to see it changed to better serve Americans.
“I’m all for safety net programs but I don’t think they should necessarily be run by the federal government. And I don’t think that they should be permanent," he said. "Why should we send all of our money to the federal government and ask for it back through all of these different programs?”
To him, the U.S. should have a goal of universal healthcare and people being unable to access healthcare is “inhumane.” Unlike other Libertarians, he said the government has a role to play in administering healthcare. That doesn’t mean he wants the government paying for everything.
Shoffner said recent cuts to government assistance programs in the U.S. are causing problems across Arkansas, a state that ranks in the bottom-five of food insecurity, poverty and illness.
“You go to a Walmart Supercenter or a Walmart in any rural community in Arkansas, a good portion of their revenue is going to come from SNAP dollars. If you go to any hospital or medical clinic… they’re going to tell you that Medicaid keeps them open," she said.
Cotton voted for the tax and spending bill which cut SNAP and Medicaid. Some supporters of the move say it was meant to reduce waste, fraud and abuse in these programs.
If Shoffner wins, she would be the first Democrat from Arkansas to serve in the U.S. Senate since Mark Pryor in 2014. Wadlin would be the first Libertarian to serve in the U.S. Senate from any state. If he wins reelection, it would be Sen. Cotton’s third term in office.
