Republican Party of Arkansas
Republican Party of Arkansas | |
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Chairperson | Doyle Webb |
Governor of Arkansas | Asa Hutchinson |
Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas | Tim Griffin |
Senate President Pro Tempore | Jonathan Dismang |
House Speaker | Matthew Shepherd |
Ideology | Conservatism |
National affiliation | Republican Party |
Colors | Red |
State House | 76 / 100 |
State Senate | 26 / 35 |
Statewide Executive Offices | 7 / 7 |
U.S. House of Representatives | 4 / 4 |
U.S. Senate | 2 / 2 |
Website | |
www.arkansasgop.org |
The Republican Party of Arkansas (RPA) is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in Arkansas.
The party is led by state chairman Doyle Webb, who was re-elected to serve a sixth term in December 2018. Webb, an attorney and former state senator, was once chief of staff for the late Lieutenant Governor Winthrop Paul Rockefeller. Chairman Webb also currently serves as the General Counsel to the Republican National Committee.
The RPA's headquarters is at 1201 West 6th Street in downtown Little Rock. Sarah Jo Reynolds serves as the executive director. Ashley Wells serves as finance director. Bea Grayes serves as the executive assistant. Stephen Houserman serves as communications director.[1]
History
The United States Republican Party, or GOP, is the second oldest currently existing political party in the United States after its older rival, the Democratic Party.
Both parties exist in all fifty states. Historically, prior to the late 20th century, the Republican Party was much weaker than the Democrats in the former Confederate States of America, including Arkansas.
The Arkansas party did not hire its first paid executive director until 1970, when businessman Neal Sox Johnson, then of Nashville, Arkansas, assumed the position in the last year of Winthrop Rockefeller's second term as governor of Arkansas. Johnson held the position until early in 1973, when he left Arkansas to take a high position with the former Farmers Home Administration in Washington, D.C..[2]
Between 2010 and 2014, similar to what took place in neighboring Oklahoma, Arkansas Republicans won all four U.S. House seats, both U.S. Senate seats, all of the statewide offices, and supermajority control of both chambers of the Arkansas General Assembly.
Republican allied groups
There are six groups and these groups are: Arkansas Diversity Alliances Coalition, African American Coalition of Arkansas, Arkansas African American Trailblazers, Arkansas Federation of College Republicans, Arkansas Federation of Young Republicans, Arkansas Federation of Republican Women, and the Arkansas Federation of Teenage Republicans.
The Tusk Club is another arm of the Arkansas Republican Party.
Current elected officials
The Arkansas Republican Party controls all of the state's seven statewide offices. Republicans also hold both of the state's U.S. Senate seats and all four of the state's U.S. House seats.
Members of Congress
U.S. Senate
Republicans have controlled both of Arkansas's seats in the U.S. Senate since 2014:
- Class II: Tom Cotton (Junior Senator)
Junior Senator Cotton - Class III: John Boozman (Senior Senator)
Senior Senator Boozman
U.S. House of Representatives
Out of the 4 seats Arkansas is apportioned in the U.S. House of Representatives, all 4 are held by Republicans:
Statewide offices
Republicans control all seven of the elected statewide constitutional offices:
- Governor: Asa Hutchinson
- Lieutenant Governor: Tim Griffin
- Attorney General: Leslie Rutledge
- Secretary of State: John Thurston
- State Auditor: Andrea Lea
- State Treasurer: Dennis Milligan
- Commissioner of State Lands: Tommy Land
State legislative leaders
- Senate President Pro Tempore: Jonathan Dismang
- Senate Majority Leader: Jim Hendren
- Speaker of the House: Matthew Shepherd
- Speaker Pro Tempore: Jon Eubanks
- House Majority Leader: Marcus Richmond
Past Arkansas Republican State Chairs
Source:[3]
- Osro Cobb 1932-1955
- Ben C. Henley 1955-1962
- William L. Spicer 1962-1964
- Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt 1964-1966
- Odell Pollard 1966-1970
- Charles T. Bernard 1970-1972
- Jim Caldwell 1972-1974
- Lynn Lowe 1974-1978
- Jeraldine D. "Jeri" Pruden 1979-1980
- Harlan Holleman 1980-1982
- Bob Cohee 1982
- Morris S. Arnold 1982-1983
- Bob Leslie 1983-1984
- William "Bill" Kelly 1984-1985
- Sharon Trusty 1985
- Len E. Blaylock 1985-1986
- Congressman Ed Bethune 1986-1988
- Dr. Ken Coon 1988-1990
- Governor Asa Hutchinson 1991-1995
- Sheffield Nelson 1991-1992
- Lloyd Vance Stone, Jr. 1996-2002
- Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt 2002-2003
- Winthrop Paul Rockefeller 2003-2004
- Gilbert Baker 2004-2007
- Dennis Milligan 2007-2008
- Doyle Webb 2008-Present
See also
References
- ^ arkansasgop.org
- ^ Arkansas Outlook, Arkansas Republican Party newsletter, February 1973
- ^ Coon, Ken, Dr. Heroes and Heroines of the Journey: The Builders of the Modern Republican Party of Arkansas. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.