Arkansas Politics

One of the state’s constitutional officers tasked with redrawing Arkansas House and Senate districts has announced her picks to help with the task.

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced Tuesday former state Republican Party chair Doyle Webb will lead the effort, alongside former Republican state lawmakers Andy Davis and Doug House.

President Donald J. Trump made history on Wednesday by becoming the first sitting president to be impeached twice. The vote saw 10 Republican members of Congress, including GOP whip Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., join Democrats in voting for impeachment. 

The Democratic-controlled Congress passed an article of impeachment on a 232-197 vote. All four of Arkansas' U.S. Representatives voted against impeachment.

The Little Rock Board of Directors decided to postpone taking a vote regarding the city’s 2021 budget for two weeks, as well as a resolution that “express[ed] concern” regarding the continued employment of the city’s police chief.

Board members ultimately tabled consideration of the budget Tuesday night, after not accruing the needed eight votes to push the ordinance to a third reading, with a vote of 7-3.

Jonelle Fulmer of Fort Smith was elected as the new chairwoman of the Republican Party of Arkansas on Saturday in Benton. She will succeed Doyle Webb of Benton, who has served as chairman for the last 12 years. Fulmer has served as the Party’s National Committeewoman since 2012.

North Little Rock voters will decide who will serve as their next mayor in a runoff election Tuesday. The two candidates, former mayor Terry Hartwick and former Democratic state lawmaker Tracy Steele, failed to get more than 50% of the vote in what was a four-person contest on Election Day. Steele says he’s confident he’ll emerge victorious from the runoff.

A new bill would make nearly all forms of abortion a crime in Arkansas, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Senate Bill 6, sponsored by Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, and Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, allows abortion to be performed legally only when the mother’s life is threatened or to remove an ectopic pregnancy.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson anticipates a lot of negotiation over taxes in the upcoming legislative session. With an expected $240 million surplus,

Hutchinson has laid out proposals to:

• Reduce the top individual income tax rate for new residents to 4.9% for five years. Doing so would attract tech and manufacturing talent and retirees, he said.
• Lower the sales tax on used vehicles from 6.5% to 3.5% for those with sale prices between $4,000 and $10,000. There is no tax for cars sold for less than $4,000.
• Place $100 million in the state’s long-term reserve account.
  

Arkansas lawmakers will soon vote on whether to require all high school students to take a computer science course.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Wednesday the state legislature will take up a bill creating the requirement sponsored by Sen. Jane English, R-North Little Rock, in the January general session.

Arkansas’s Republican Governor says President Donald Trump should begin the transition process to the administration of president-elect Joe Biden.

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he expects Biden to be the next president of the United States.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson touted his proposal to cut the state’s top individual income tax rate for new residents, called for reducing the used car tax, and said his new budget includes a $240 million surplus during a speech at the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas’ Annual Meeting Tuesday.

Hutchinson said his budget calls for reducing the top individual income tax rate for new residents to 4.9% for five years. Doing so would attract tech and manufacturing talent and also retirees.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has won the 2020 U.S. Presidential election after it became clear Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral college votes would fall for the Democratic candidate.

“America, I’m honored that you have chosen me to lead our great country,” Biden noted in a Saturday morning statement after the Pennsylvania vote. “The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise you this: I will be a President for all Americans – whether you voted for me or not. I will keep the faith that you have placed in me.”

The Democratic candidate for Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District has officially conceded the race, but also called for the counting of each absentee ballot in the district.

Arkansas State Sen. Joyce Elliott lost to incumbent congressman French Hill by around 10%, which amounted to around 30,000 votes. The race had been the closest congressional race in the state, and Democrats’ best change at flipping a seat. Polling showed less that one percentage point separating Elliott and Hill up to Election Day.

President Donald Trump along with five Republican members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation cruised to victory in the state Tuesday night. Some candidates further down the ballot saw victories by large margins, while some races remain undecided.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., easily won re-election Tuesday, while U.S. Reps. Steve Womack and Bruce Westerman were well ahead in their re-election efforts. The Associated Press called the race for Cotton not long after the polls closed at 7:30 p.m.

Cotton was leading with 66% of the vote facing only Libertarian candidate Ricky Dale Harrington. At 9:30 p.m., Cotton had 437,000 votes while Harrington had 223,000.

In the final stretch before polls close in Arkansas for the 2020 election, the candidates for Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District race are making their final appeals to voters across the district.

Arkansas State Senator Joyce Elliott, the Democratic candidate running to unseat incumbent Congressman French Hill, a Republican, called today a "tiebreaking day" and is visiting polling places throughout the district.

President Donald Trump leads former Vice President Joe Biden in Arkansas, 65%-32%, Sen. Tom Cotton appears headed to an easy re-election, and ballot measures to continue a sales tax for highways and amend legislative term limits laws had broad support in the annual Arkansas Poll released Oct. 28 by University of Arkansas political science professor Dr. Janine Perry.