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ARKANSAS |
Nov. 4,
2014 Governor |
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Plurality: 118,314 votes (13.94 percentage points) REPUBLICAN PICK-UP Notes: This was an open seat as Gov. Mike Beebe (D) was term limited. Vying to succeed Beebe were former DHS Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson (R), former U.S. Rep. Mike Ross (D), former mayor of Tull Frank Gilbert (L), and Hot Springs attorney Joshua Drake (G). Republicans swept all statewide races. Hutchinson started his career as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas during the Reagan Administration. He was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 1986, losing to Sen. Dale Bumpers (D), and was unsuccessful in his run for Attorney General in 1990. He chaired the Arkansas Republican Party. In 1996 he was elected to Congress, representing the 3rd CD. Hutchinson resigned in 2001 to serve as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration and later as an Under Secretary at the DHS. In 2006 he was the Republican nominee for governor, losing to Beebe, who was then Arkansas Attorney General. Ross, from Prescott, represented Arkansas' 4th CD for six terms, and was for a time a co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition. He did not seek re-election in 2012 as he was considering the governor's race; he announced his candidacy on Apr. 17, 2013. Prior to being elected to Congress, Ross served ten years in the State Senate and earlier as chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Winston Bryant. He also worked in the private sector; per his University of Arkansas bio, he "owned a family pharmacy and home medical equipment business, was a retail sales manager for McKesson Corporation and was a licensed independent insurance agent." Ross and Hutchinson participated in four debates: at KARK-TV studios in Little Rock [Nexstar Broadcasting] on Sept. 19 (>); at Bentonville High School in Bentonville on Sept. 30; at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, broadcast on KATV (>), on Oct. 7; and, sponsored by the Northeast Arkansas Political Animals Club, at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro on Oct. 20. Campaign Managers: Asa Hutchinson: Jon Gilmore (July 2013) Pollster at OnMessage, Inc., Apr. 2009-July 2013. Project director-strategy at the RNC, June 2007-Feb. 2009. Director of communications and research for the Republican Party of Arkansas, Sept. 2005-June 2007. Data coordinator for RNC/Arkansas Victory, Jan. 2004-Jan. 2005. Mike Ross: Jarrod Yates Chief of staff (July 2009-Dec. 2012) and legislative assistant (Jan. 2001-June 2006) to Ross. Arkansas native, raised in a farming family in Prescott. |
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