Parties’ keynote speakers revealed
Dinners’ lineups similar to 2017’s
Arkansas Republicans have invited President Donald Trump’s daughter-inlaw as keynote speaker for the party’s annual fundraiser while Democrats asked a governor from a red-dominated state to speak at their summertime dinner.
The state GOP announced Tuesday that it would welcome Lara Trump, who is also the host of a Trump-affiliated online news show Real News Update.
The Democrats, meanwhile, said they had selected Montana Gov. Steve Bullock as their keynote speaker.
Those picks come a year after Republicans invited Jeanine Pirro, a conservative TV host, to visit the Natural Sate, while Democrats chose another red-state Democratic governor, Louisiana’s
John Bel Edwards, as their speaker.
The summertime dinners are the largest fundraisers of the year for each party, and often feature high-profile guest speakers.
Past speakers for the Democrats have included President Bill Clinton, in 2016. The year before, Republicans heard from then-presidential candidate Trump.
Tickets start at $150 for this year’s Republican ReaNATIONAL
gan-Rockefeller Dinner on June 22 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Little Rock, according to a news release issued Tuesday.
For the Democrats, tickets start at $100 for the Clinton Dinner on Aug. 4 at the Statehouse Convention Center, said party Chairman Michael John Gray of Augusta.
“Mainly they seem to reach out to headliners who are likely to energize their base, or at least the base that is likely to donate,” said Janine Parry, a political scientist at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
Sarah Jo Reynolds, the executive director of the Arkansas Republican Party, said the job similarities between Lara Trump and Pirro were unintentional.
“Arkansas still overwhelmingly supports the president,” Reynolds said, adding that Lara Trump has strong public speaking skills. “It doesn’t hurt that she’s his daughter-in-law.”
Lara Trump is married to Eric Trump, the president’s second-eldest son.
Gray, the Democrats’ chief who also serves as a state representative from rural Woodruff County, said the back-to-back selection of governors sent a clear message.
“What it really speaks to is you have people like Gov. Edwards and Gov. Bullock who have been able to push back on Republicans’ message,” that Democrats are no longer relevant in conservative states, Gray said. Republicans are the majority party in Montana’s Legislature and have one U.S. Senate seat and the state’s lone congressional seat. The other U.S. Senate seat is held by a Democrat.
As recently as 2010, Arkansas Democrats held control of both houses of the Legislature and Governor’s Mansion, as well as seats in Congress and the U.S. Senate. Facing declining support, the party invited another Democratic governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer, to keynote what was then called the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in 2011. The next year, Republicans swept control of both chambers of the General Assembly.
Parry said Democrats appeared to be appealing to the demographic of voters they have lost since then, rural social conservatives, in choosing Bullock.
“They still see signs of life in other states,” she said.
The Republicans’ picks, according to Parry, also showcase what class of voters the GOP would like to build support with: women.