The National Federation of Independent Business said Tuesday it is endorsing Republican Asa Hutchinson for governor.
Sylvester Smith, state director of the group, said the Arkansas members were polled and 79 percent of them preferred Hutchinson over Democrat Mike Ross. He said it was largely because of a vote Ross cast that allowed the Affordable Care Act to move out of committee, adding Ross had a 56 percent voting record on the group's key issues compared with 98 percent for Hutchinson.
Both Ross and Hutchinson are former congressmen.
Smith announced the endorsement with Hutchinson at a Little Rock news conference.
"I can't think of really a higher honor and privilege and recognition than for small businesses across Arkansas to indicate their support for me," he said. "The reason is that whenever you want to create jobs in Arkansas, you want to expand and have economic growth, the vast majority of that growth will come in small businesses across Arkansas represented by the NFIB."
Hutchinson said he and the group also both believe bringing tort reform back before the state legislature should be a priority.