There are six candidates running as Republicans for Lieutenant Governor. The winner in the Republican primary will face a Democrat and a Libertarian candidate. Conduit News invited all six Republican candidates for an interview. Four of the candidates have already done so and we hope the other two will as well.
Here is the list of Republican candidates.
- Chris Bequette [Interview]
- Greg Bledsoe
- Senator Jason Rapert [Interview]
- Attorney General Leslie Rutledge
- Doyle Webb [Interview]
- Judge Joseph Wood [Interview]
The duties of the Lieutenant Governor under the Arkansas Constitution are to be the successor to the Governor and to be the President of the Arkansas Senate.[i]
The last two times a Lieutenant Governor succeeded to the office of Governor were in 1992 and 1996. In December 1992 Governor Bill Clinton resigned after being elected President of the United States and Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker became Governor. Then in July 1996 Governor Tucker resigned after being convicted in the Whitewater scandal. Lieutenant Governor Mike Huckabee then became Governor.
As President of the Senate the Lieutenant Governor only votes in the case of a tie. A tie is very rare. There are thirty-five Senators which means a tie can only occur if there is a vacancy in one of the Senate positions. In 2021 there was a vacancy in a Senate seat and a tie occurred, however, Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin declined to break the tie because the issue was a Senate procedural matter.
Although the Lieutenant Governor is President of the Senate, much of the time the Senate leader (President Pro Tempore) or one of his designees presides over Senate meetings.
The salary of the Lieutenant Governor is $46,704.50, which is less than a third of the salary of the Governor.[ii] The Lieutenant Governor is the lowest paid of Arkansas’ seven constitutional officers of the executive branch and is paid less than the leader of the Arkansas Senate and the leader of the House of Representatives. (The seven constitutional officers are: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer of State, Auditor of State, and Commissioner of State Lands)
Watch for more candidate interviews on Conduit News.
[i] Amendment 6 to the Arkansas Constitution
[ii] Elected state officials’ pay raise backed, Arkansas Democrat Gazette 9/22/21
