State Democrat derides Cotton on tariff support
Rivals in Senate race to hold LR events
FAYETTEVILLE — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mahony, at a campaign rally Friday evening, called incumbent Republican Tom Cotton a man more focused on his personal ambition than on Arkansas’ best interests.
The Fayetteville event was part of a three-city kickoff of Mahony’s campaign in which he seeks to unseat Cotton. Mahony held the first such rally Thursday night in his hometown of El Dorado. He has another event in Little Rock beginning at 3 p.m. today at Curran Hall, 615 E. Capitol Ave.
One clear example of Cotton’s ambition is his willingness to support tariffs that sparked reprisals from other countries, shutting Arkansas farmers out of foreign markets, Mahony said. Arkansas farmers will not automatically regain those markets when and if trade negotiations succeed and the tariffs are dropped, he said.
A spokesman for Cotton’s campaign said that the campaign would not respond Friday night to Mahony’s remarks but would have much to say at Cotton’s campaign event at noon today at Republican Party headquarters at 1201 W. Sixth St. in Little Rock.
Running against the na
tionally known Cotton will be challenging, Mahony said, describing “what a hard row this is going to be to hoe” in his remarks to about 150 people in front of the Fayetteville Town Center about 7 p.m.
“I promise you we can do it,” Mahony said. “We are going to put Arkansas first — together.” That last phrase echoed the campaign slogan of former U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, whom Cotton defeated in 2014. The 2020 race will be Cotton’s first Senate re-election race.
Mahony ran in 2018 against U.S. Rep. Steve Womack in the 3rd Congressional District, losing to the incumbent who won a fifth term. Mahony was defeated 2-to-1 by the Rogers Republican.
Mahony has been active in nonprofit causes in El Dorado and in Fayetteville.
Mahony is the former chairman of the Fayetteville Airport Board and past president of the Ozark Literacy Council board of directors and of the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund.
Mahony and Cotton are the only announced candidates in the race to date.
“We are disappointed in the representation we’ve received from
Tom Cotton,” said rally attendee Peggy Chenault of Fayetteville. “We need for people to have a living wage and to have health care. We can do better.”
Both Chenault and Linnette Garber, also of Fayetteville, said they support Mahony on his own merits, not just out of opposition to Cotton.
“When I met him years ago, when we were at an event and were talking about issues, I asked him then, ‘Well, when are you going to run for something?’” Garber said.
“I used to live in D.C.,” Garber said. “I’ve seen people corrupted by money and power. I know what it looks like, and it’s happened to Cotton.”
Rep. Denise Garner, D-Fayetteville, defeated a Republican incumbent to win election in 2018. She said defeating Cotton will require a great deal of hard work and that Mahony is well-suited for the task and willing to do what the campaign will require.