Arkansas Democratic Party chief resigns to lead new super PAC.

Democratic Party of Arkansas Chairman Michael John Gray is resigning to take the helm of a new super PAC, he announced Monday.

As executive director of Liberty and Justice for Arkansas, Gray will “work to defeat Sarah Sanders and other of the radical extremists,” he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Classified as an “independent expenditure” committee, the organization can support or oppose candidates but cannot coordinate with the office seekers themselves.

Sanders, who served as White House press secretary from 2017-19, is seeking the Republican nomination for governor. Former President Donald Trump, her old boss, had urged her to do so.

Independent expenditures “are not subject to any contribution limits but may be subject to reporting requirements,” according to the Federal Election Commission website.

“It’s just an opportunity to do messaging, to reach out to the people,” Gray said. “Arkansas is a rural state. I’m a rural guy that understands messaging and it’s ‘all hands on deck’ in this fight.”

The Sanders campaign had no comment late Monday.

Gray was elected to replace outgoing chairman Vince Insalaco in March 2017. A state legislator at the time, the Woodruff County farmer stepped down as House minority leader shortly thereafter to focus on party leadership.

The following year, he would lose his seat in the Legislature to a Republican, Craig Christiansen of Bald Knob.

Despite the setback, Gray received a vote of confidence from party activists.

In December 2018, he was elected to a full four-year term as chairman. The job is unpaid.

With Republicans holding all of the state constitutional offices and all of the Arkansas seats in Congress, Gray was one of the party’s most visible figures.

“I learned a lot and I’m better because I had the position and I’m grateful to have been elected twice, which is not something that has happened in modern times in our party. But, yes sir, it had its challenges.”

In the news release announcing his resignation, Gray said serving as chairman had been “a privilege and at times a heavy burden.”

For Democrats, politically, it has been “a battle for survival,” he said.

“We have faced uphill climbs and have not always achieved the electoral successes we wished for, however we have identified and engaged a new group of leaders as more candidates have stepped up over the last four years than we have seen since the change in term limits,” he said. “We saw legislative seats flip in our favor, which had not happened since 2012.”

In the news release, Democratic National Committee Women’s Caucus Chair Lottie Shackelford called Gray “a dedicated and committed Chairman.”

Nicole Hart, the Democratic Party of Arkansas’ vice chair, will act as interim chair until the state committee chooses a successor. The committee is next scheduled to meet in October, party officials said.