The Republican Party of Arkansas announced a record number of candidates filed as Republicans. That is great news… well it is mostly good news.
- The good news: The good news is the record number of candidate filings is a strong indication Arkansas voters are more Republican than ever!
- The bad news: Politicians recognize in most of the state you are not going to win unless you file as a Republican. So, the bad news is there is even more incentive for big government tax and spend politicians who are weak on conservative issues to file as Republicans instead of as Democrats.
This is not a new phenomenon. Several years ago, a newly elected state Representative, who was a Democrat from northeast Arkansas, was assigned to sit next to a Republican from a county near central Arkansas. The Republican told her they would get along fine because “I’m a RINO. Democrats can’t get elected in my county.” At that time the Republican Party was still the minority party but Republicans were very strong in some counties like his.
Now with nearly all the state being firmly Republican, imagine how much more likely it is for a person who wants to run for office to run as a Republican despite not sharing the conservative principles of the Republican Party.
There are several areas in Arkansas where local Democrat officeholders have been switching wholesale to run as Republicans. Perhaps some were conservative to begin with. Other Democrat officeholders who are switching are not conservative and have reluctantly changed parties as the only way to stay in office.
Plus, the left wing backed organization Common Ground actively recruited left leaning candidates to file as Republicans.
The point is you can’t tell from a person “filing” as a Republican whether the person is guided by the conservative principles or is just a politician who wants to win. It takes a bit of effort on your part to find out more about the candidates.
As for candidates who currently serve in the Arkansas legislature, Conduit for Commerce has a scorecard that can help you. The scorecard ranks their voting records but even better it shows you how the legislators voted on a list of economic issues and a list of social issues and you can see how they voted on the issues that matter most to you. Here is a link to the 2021 Scorecard.
