El Dorado Republican Shepherd sets sights on third term as House speaker

Arkansas House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, said Wednesday that he will seek a third full term in that leadership post.

Shepherd has been the speaker since June 2018.

If chosen as the House speaker for the 94th General Assembly from 2023-25, he would be the first to serve three terms in the post, House officials said. He is the sixth speaker to serve two terms.

So far, no other member has announced a bid for the post.

Members will elect the speaker-designate at the end of the fiscal session in 2022. The 94th General Assembly will convene for two years starting in January 2023. The state will have a new governor because Republican Asa Hutchinson, who has been the state’s chief executive since 2015, is barred by term limits from seeking reelection.

House Republican leader Austin McCullough of Bentonville said Wednesday that he is “laser focused” on cutting income taxes in a special session planned for this fall and continuing to serve in his post. He said that “everything will be on the table in the fall,” including whether he runs for speaker, reelection to his current leadership post or for the state Senate.

Rep. Robin Lundstrom, R-Elm Springs, said she has been asked a number of times to run for speaker.

That’s a very hard job, Lundstrom said, and she and other candidates are taking time to consider the weight of taking on such a challenge.

“Speaker Shepherd has set the bar high for leadership, and I would want to continue that standard,” she said in a written statement. “The election is months away so there is no need to rush any decision.”

On other side of the Capitol rotunda, Senate President Pro Tempore Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, said he hasn’t decided whether to seek another term as Senate leader.

The Senate has a rule limiting senators to serving as pro tempore for two years, he noted. But that rule has been waived in the past.

“I don’t know who else wants to do it,” said Hickey, who is a retired banker and has been Senate leader since January of this year.

No senators have yet publicly signaled their intention to run for the post at the end of the fiscal session in 2022.

Last year’s election for leader deeply divided Republican senators.

In April 2020, Hickey was elected by fellow senators as president pro tempore-designate over the Senate Republican nominee for the post, Sen. Bart Hester of Cave Springs, in a secret ballot.

The election result surprised Hester, as a group of Senate Republicans apparently joined forces with Senate Democrats to select Hickey.

In another vote after the Nov. 3 general election, Senate Republicans nominated Hickey for the leadership role over Sen. Blake Johnson of Corning. Senators then confirmed Hickey to be president pro tempore for the 93rd General Assembly.