The Democratic candidate for central Arkansas' 2nd Congressional District was unveiled Tuesday as state Sen. Joyce Elliott, a longtime lawmaker from Little Rock and prominent voice for local control of the city's school district.
The seat for the seven-county congressional district, based around the Little Rock metropolitan area, has been held by Republican U.S. Rep. French Hill since 2015 and is the most competitive of Arkansas' four GOP-held U.S. House districts.
Elliott ran for the 2nd Congressional District seat in 2010, losing by nearly 20 percentage points to Republican Tim Griffin, who is now the lieutenant governor. Democrat Clarke Tucker challenged Hill last year, losing by 6 percentage points.
In the years since her previous congressional run, Elliott has built up a prominent profile in the state Senate, where she has advocated for a return of the state-run Little Rock School District to local control, as well as for better conditions for state prisoners and revised sentencing laws.
In a rally at the Capitol shortly after she filled out her filing paperwork, Elliott said she did not have to be persuaded by party officials to enter the race.
"Unlike a lot of people when they run for office, I make no pretenses," Elliott said. "I like being in office, I like working for people, I like [being a] politician."
Describing herself as a "walking example of a preexisting condition" who had donated one of her kidneys, Elliott said the focus of her campaign would be on health care and access to good education.
J.R. Davis, a spokesman for Hill's campaign, noted that the congressman has never gone unchallenged in an election year. He said Hill would focus his reelection pitch on job growth and the positive state of the economy.
"There was no expectation that this time was going to be any different," Davis said. "He looks forward to a vigorous campaign."
Tuesday was the final day of Arkansas' weeklong filing period, and the 2nd Congressional District was seen as one of the pivotal races for which the Democratic Party needed to find a recruit.
Party officials said late last week that they had found a candidate for the race, though Elliott's name was kept officially secret until the final hour of the filing period. If elected, Elliott would become the first black person ever sent to Congress from Arkansas, according to congressional records. She would also be the first woman elected in the 2nd District since Pearl Oldfield in 1928.
"Like almost every other woman that's running today, I recognize that things need to change," Elliott said. "I am not one for whining about it and not stepping up to do what I need to do."
Elliott enters the race with a sizable fundraising gap behind Hill, whose campaign had $823,956 in the bank at the end of September.
Tucker, then a state representative from Little Rock, earned the most votes of any Democratic candidate running in the current boundaries of the 2nd District. Tucker was outspent by Hill, roughly $3.3 million to $2.3 million.
Speaking to reporters after her rally, Elliott said she could improve upon her own past performance as well as Tucker's.
"We have to go get the votes," Elliott said. "There's no question we have the votes to win."
Later Tuesday, Tucker tweeted his support for Elliott, saying he is "committed to helping return Central Arkansas and our representation in Congress to the people who live here."
Three of Arkansas' four congressional districts will be contested in 2020. The only incumbent without a challenger next year will be U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, a Republican from Jonesboro.
J. Glenn Smith, an independent from Conway, also filed Tuesday to run for the 2nd Congressional District.
A Section on 11/13/2019