Optimistic Arkansas Dems outline next steps
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Arkansas Democrats flipped roughly twice as many state Legislature seats as they expected, and their chair blamed gerrymandering for their failure to win a federal seat.
Why it matters: The gains give Democrats more leverage in the state House and renewed hope of winning congressional seats, despite losses at the statewide and federal levels.
The latest: The AP finally called the U.S. congressional race for Republican Rep. French Hill with a 4,405-vote lead — taking just under 51% of the vote — over Democrat Chris Jones at 11am.
- Chris Jones conceded the race.
Democratic Party of Arkansas Chair Marcus Jones blamed the loss on Republican gerrymandering. "The margin and the difference would have been a … completely different outcome if we had not had that second district gerrymandered … and how it broke up along racial lines in Pulaski County," he said.
Catch up quick: Republicans lost their three-fourths supermajority in the Arkansas House, which had allowed them to approve state spending without needing a single Democratic vote for a decade.
- Democrats gained one seat in the state Senate and at least nine seats in the state House while retaining all of their current seats. A Democrat was leading another House race the AP hadn't called as of Thursday afternoon.
- The Democratic Party of Arkansas had expected to gain four to six seats, Marcus Jones said.
What they're saying: Jones and House Minority Leader Andrew Collins (D-Little Rock) answered questions about the direction of the party given the better-than-expected outcome:
🔮 On future strategy: Jones said it's "absolutely possible" that central Arkansas could elect a Democrat to Congress in 2028, adding that the party will need to continue year-round organizing and voter engagement.
🔴 On the GOP: Democrats will be willing to work with the GOP in the upcoming session to look for common ground, Collins said.
- "But if we continue to see some of the extreme legislation and bad policies come down that we have seen in the last few sessions, we're not going to shy away from being vocal."
🏫 On school vouchers: Collins expects the upcoming session to highlight "the ballooning cost of the voucher program, the lack of transparency, the ease with which it can be abused and the harms it is causing in the public school system," he said.
🩺 On Medicaid: "We are going to have to work very fast and work very smart to both make sure that we have something in place and that we don't have gaps that make life more difficult for people as they transition from ARHOME into whatever comes next," Collins said.
- Context: Arkansas' Department of Human Services announced Thursday that the state's Medicaid expansion will receive a six-month grace period starting Jan. 1, the Arkansas Advocate reported. The federal government had denied a five-year extension of Arkansas Health and Opportunity for Me (ARHOME), a Medicaid program that uses private insurance to cover low-income people.
🗓️ What's next: The Legislature is scheduled to convene in Little Rock on Jan. 11.