Lots of Republicans; three high-profile offices
In 2022, the high-profile offices in Arkansas – governor, attorney general, lieutenant governor – will come open for the first time in eight years, and perhaps for the last time in eight years.
If you’re an ambitious Republican, it could be now or never, or at least now or too much later.
For Leon Jones, the state’s Fair Housing Commission executive director, it’s now. Jones told me last week that he’s definitely running for attorney general.
Jones previously served as Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s Department of Labor director, back before state government was reorganized. He previously operated his own law firm, worked for Walmart, and worked for Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Jones is trying to become Arkansas’ first African American statewide official. Unlike other Southern states, Arkansas has never had a minority member of Congress, either. He would be attempting to be elected as a Republican, which would make him a bit of a trailblazer in that respect also, as there are few African American Republican elected officials at any level in Arkansas.
Jones told me he’s a Republican because he believes in the party’s stances in areas like the military and small business. If elected attorney general, he’d focus on defending the state’s laws and protecting citizens and consumers.
The current term-limited attorney general, Leslie Rutledge, who is running for governor in 2022, has often joined other Republican attorneys general in multi-state lawsuits involving federal issues. One, led by Texas, would overturn the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. It’s pending, so Jones didn’t want to comment on it.
Another one that just ended was another Texas-led lawsuit that would have invalidated the votes in four states that voted for President-elect Joe Biden. The Supreme Court rejected it.
Asked if he would have joined that lawsuit, Jones said, “No.” He said he’d focus on election laws pertaining to Arkansas.
As stated earlier, this will be the first time the attorney general’s office will be open in eight years, so this will be a competitive race.
One name mentioned as a potential candidate is Cody Hiland, the U.S. attorney for the state’s Eastern District. His office represents the federal government in criminal prosecutions and civil litigation. He was appointed by President Trump in 2017 and will not remain in office under a Democratic president. Prior to serving in this position, Hiland was a prosecuting attorney.
Other Republican attorneys will at least consider running for the office. Sen. Bob Ballinger, R-Ozark, told me he hasn’t ruled out a race but would support Hiland if he ran. Speaker of the House Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, told me he had “received considerable encouragement” to run but doesn’t plan to do so.
Those three state offices – governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general – will be even more valued because the state’s congressional offices may not be available for a while. Sen. John Boozman has said he will probably run for re-election in 2022, and Sen. Tom Cotton was re-elected this year and will remain in office unless he’s elected president in four years.
Before this year’s election, I was thinking one or more of the state’s four House members might leave office after this term if the expected “blue wave” had happened and Democrats had padded their majority. It isn’t fun being a Republican House member serving under Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But Republicans made gains, the Democrats’ House majority is now razor thin, and members of the state’s delegation are moving into leadership positions. Two years from now, they could be back in power. They’ll be less likely to retire now, and they haven’t done anything to make themselves vulnerable to a challenge by another Republican.
To sum it up: Arkansas now has a lot of Republicans but not a lot of places for them to go. Three high-profile offices will be available. Running for a statewide office is a daunting task, but if someone wants to occupy one of those three, it might be now or never. We’ll see how many decide the time to try is now.