DARDANELLE — Republican Senate candidate U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton returned to his hometown Monday to cast a ballot on the first day of early voting in Arkansas.
Cotton, who is seeking to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor, joined his wife, Anna, and his parents, Avis and Len, in casting early votes.
Afterward, Cotton said he feels good about his chances with a little more than two weeks until Election Day.
"The polls go up and down, but the one number that I think most Arkansans are worried about is the 93 percent of the time that Mark Pryor votes with Barack Obama," Cotton said. "So we feel very confident we're going to win on Nov. 4th and start changing the direction of our state and country in January."
Cotton said the race "boils down" to Obama's policies and how Pryor represents them in Arkansas. He dismissed a criticism levied by President Bill Clinton that focusing on Obama is unfair since the president will be out of office two years into the six-year term of whoever wins the seat.
"President Obama can do a lot of damage in two years as we saw in the first two years with Obamacare and the stimulus," Cotton said. "And in the last two years, if he had a Democratic senate enabling [him], he could continue to pack the Supreme Court and the lower courts and that would be an Obama echo that would last decades for Arkansas."
Speaking after voting, Cotton reiterated his desire to repeal Obamacare and "start over and get it right." Asked if that would mean Arkansans who obtained health insurance through the state's private option would lose it, Cotton said his goal is "to make sure everyone can have affordable insurance ... and lets them make choices and not politicians and bureaucrats."
"I think when we cut all the red tape and bureaucracy from Washington, D.C. and give states more flexibility and craft solutions for them, then I think we can provide affordable health insurance for all Arkansans, for all Americans," he said. "Because we're a very big and diverse country, and we need solutions that fits each one of our states."
Cotton and his wife arrived shortly after 9:30 a.m. at the Yell County courthouse annex, where poll workers said the three voting machines were getting frequent use in the first two hours of early voting. Cotton met his parents and together they went inside to get ballots. Cotton showed the clerk his driver's license, although an Arkansas Supreme Court decision last week meant he didn't have to, and when asked he provided both his and his wife's dates of birth, joking that knowing the latter showed he was a "good husband."
Anna Cotton cast her ballot first, walking in after her husband playfully reminded her, "Remember to vote for me."
Several supporters greeted Cotton in the hallway before and after he cast his ballot, including one who complained of the direction the country was heading with specific regard to faith.
"We have a chance to render judgment on that right now, starting today," Cotton told her.
Early voting continues across the state each weekday and Saturday through Nov. 3.