Red wave hits El Dorado
State officials, local candidates make campaign stop
The Grand Old Party of Union County held a Red Wave rally Friday at their downtown headquarters, with Arkansas candidates for federal, state and local governments visiting to ask area residents for their votes.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson headlined the event, saying he has kept his promises and specifying that his current platform will be good for residents of Union County. He said four years ago, he told voters he wanted to lower taxes by $100 million, put computer coding in every high school and be the jobs governor and said he had been successful in those areas.
“That’s what Republican leadership has done. That’s what growing the private sector does. That’s what reducing regulation is,” he said.
Hutchinson is running for re-election against Democrat Jared Henderson and Libertarian Mark West. Henderson is scheduled to make a campaign stop in El Dorado at 3:30 p.m. today at the local Democrat Party headquarters.
Hutchinson said that if elected, he will continue to cut taxes, with hopes to lower the top rate to 5.9 percent over the next four years; reduce the number of government agencies that report to him; raise teacher pay; and support a new highway plan.
“I’ve got a good plan for the future,” Hutchinson said.
He said Medicaid reforms under his administration have been a “marked success.”
Other Republican state and federal level candidates in attendance were U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, Land Commissioner John Thurston, who is running for Arkansas Secretary of State, and Tommy Land, who is the Republican candidate for land commissioner.
Westerman, who is running for re-election against Democrat Hayden Shamel and Libertarian Tom Canada, said the political landscape in Arkansas has changed significantly in the past decade. In 2008, Democrats were the majority in the state House and Senate, and most of the federal officials from Arkansas were Democrats; now Republicans hold majorities in those positions.
“I can tell you, if people don’t get out and vote across this country, if we don’t hold the majorities in the House and the Senate, we really haven’t seen anything yet like the clown show we’re going
to see for two years if the other side’s running the house,” Westerman said.
Griffin is running for re-election against Democrat Anthony Bland and Libertarian Frank Gilbert. Griffin said his campaign was going well so far, but that he would continue get out the vote efforts until polls close Tuesday night.
“Voter intensity is up around the state … and I think that favors us,” Griffin said.
Rutledge, who is running for re-election against Democrat Mike Lee and Libertarian Kerry Hicks, said this election will be based on values.
“Arkansas is just one big small town and we take care of each other,” Rutledge said. “I hope that we have a big win, that we maintain Republicans … at every level.”
Thurston is running for Arkansas Secretary of State against Democrat Susan Inman and Libertarian Christopher Olson. Thurston emphasized redistricting that will occur after the 2020 Census.
“This will be the first time we [Republicans] have redrawn the lines since Reconstruction,” Thurston said. “As we go vote, go pray.”
Land is running for commissioner of State Lands against Democrat Larry Williams and Libertarian T.J. Campbell. He said small, efficient government and low taxes bring prosperity and that is why people should vote Republican.
“We need to show the state of Arkansas, okay, this is a mandate. This is what we want; this is who we want,” Land said. “We want Republican principles applied from city government all the way to the state capital.”
Quite a few Republican voters were in attendance, including several that traveled from Magnolia.
Pranit Hamal was one who traveled. An active member of the Columbia County Republican Committee, Hamal is an immigrant from Kathmandu, Nepal. He said he volunteers for the party and has been working to get out the vote.
“I am one of the few legal immigrants that’s Republican in this community,” Hamal said, adding he has lived in Magnolia since 2014, and he and his family have been Republicans that entire time.
“On Tuesday, I think the Republican Party will win the election,” he said. “Being an immigrant and living here for the last five years, in the United States, the economic policies … affects me directly or indirectly, so I trust my Republican candidates in this area to bring social and economic reforms.”
Donald Hurst, who is from El Dorado, was similarly optimistic about next week’s election. He said he will vote straight ticket Republican. He said he hopes to see other Republican candidates following President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“[The red wave is] probably going to be a tsunami,” Hurst said.
Elijah Smith said he was impacted by the Republicans’ repeated calls to vote. Arlentez Aaron said he planned to vote Republican.
“I think that’s the best choice,” Aaron said.
Several Republican Union County and El Dorado candidates were also in attendance. Paul Choate, candidate for El Dorado Ward 4 alderman; Steven Ward, candidate for District 1 Justice of the Peace; Stormey Primm, candidate for Union County coroner; Cliff Preston, candidate for Union County judge; and Bill Luther, candidate for El Dorado mayor were all in attendance.
“I want to re-emphasize: get your friends out to vote,” Luther said, re-iterating the rally’s central message of getting out the vote. Luther is facing Democrat Veronica SmithCreer and Independent Trang My Lu.
“It goes to show we need to emphasize how important the vote is,” Primm added. Primm faces Democrat Martavious Carrigan for the office of coroner.
Ward, who is running against Democrat Mike Dumas, said the rally was a wonderful time.
“It was great to talk about all the good things happening,” Ward said.