Little separates the philosophies of the two Democrats running for their party’s nomination for a north Pulaski County House seat.
Mental-health counselor and executive Jannie Cotton and Zach Randall, an operations manager at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/ Adams Field and a pilot, both support the state’s version of Medicaid expansion that provides health insurance to low-income people.
They believe state government should invest in public education first.
They say that low-income families should be the first to benefit from any tax-cutting legislation.
Both, though, said that it’s their backgrounds that separate them.
Randall, 31, of North Little Rock said that Democrats should vote for him because his situation resembles those who comprise House District 41.
“I’m a working stiff,” he said. “I know what it’s like to face the same challenges you do. I struggle. I have worries. I don’t have the benefit of unlimited campaign contributions. I’m doing this to try to help all the people in the same position I’m in who are just trying to make ends meet who want a better life for their children and grandchildren.”
Cotton, 66, of Sherwood said voters should cast their ballots for her in the March 3 primary because of her experience serving the community and working at the state Capitol, advocating for improvements to the mental-health care system.
“I want to continue the work that I’ve already been doing,” Cotton said. “My opponent doesn’t have any experience in that. I applaud any young person that wants to run for office. I think in this particular race the experience I have is needed at this appointed time.”
The winner between Randall and Cotton will face the incumbent, state Rep. Karilyn Brown, R-Sherwood, in November. Brown has represented the district, which is composed primarily of Sherwood, since 2015.
Cotton is a Little Rock native, and she was in the final graduating class from Horace Mann High School in 1971 before it was converted into a junior high as part of the Little Rock School District’s integration efforts.
She recently retired as the CEO of Professional Counseling Associates, a nonprofit community mental-health center. She also was assistant director of the Children and Family Services Division under then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker.
Cotton, who has three adult daughters, said her main priorities are: mental health and juvenile-justice changes; equality in education; and improved access to Medicare and mental-health care for veterans and senior citizens.
Randall is a Fort Smith native, and he moved to Central Arkansas seven years ago. He obtained his pilot’s license at 17, and he spent seven years as a corporate pilot before taking a job at the Little Rock airport.
He and his wife have a young son.
Tax relief for middle- and low-income Arkansans, health care access and improved public education, Randall said, are the main issues that drew him to run for the seat.
Randall said the state’s decision in 2013 to expand Medicaid has been beneficial. Arkansas Works — the program’s current name — provides health care coverage to about 246,000 low-income Arkansans.
He said that he doesn’t necessarily oppose a properly tailored work requirement for able-bodied program participants, but he criticized the structure of a work requirement imposed by the state that was struck down by a federal judge last year. That ruling is on appeal.
Arkansas’ requirement, the first to be added to a state Medicaid program, resulted in 18,164 people losing coverage during the nine months it was in effect.
To stay in compliance, enrollees had to spend 80 hours a month on work or other approved activities, such as volunteering or looking for a job, and report what they did using a state website. The state also added an option in December for enrollees to report their hours over the phone.
Those who failed to meet the requirement for three months during a year were kicked off the program and barred from re-enrolling for the rest of the year.
The requirement applied to Arkansans ages 19-49 covered under the expanded part of the Medicaid program.
The “draconian” requirement made reporting work too difficult, and thousands of Arkansans lost coverage who shouldn’t have, Randall said.
“Let’s put the human element aside, a healthy workforce is a productive workforce,” Randall said. “If you don’t have people who are healthy and can benefit the economy, that’s a problem in itself.”
Cotton said Arkansas Works has been a huge benefit to the state. She also said she didn’t support the structure of the work requirement, but like Randall, she said she didn’t mind a properly structured work requirement.
“I think it was good for those who could and should, but there are those in the population we serve who weren’t able to,” Cotton said of the work requirement. “They said they were going to exempt them, but once they’re taken off the rolls, it’s hard to get them back.”
On other issues:
m Asked about private education voucher programs, which would allow families to use tax dollars to pay for private school tuition for their children, Cotton and Randall both said the state should focus on funding and fixing public education first.
m Both Randall and Cotton said abortion should not be illegal.
Cotton said state government should not interfere with a woman’s right to make her own choices.
Randall said abortions should be safe, legal and rare. m Both Democrats said they were still trying to decide whether to support a proposed constitutional amendment that would permanently extend the state’s 0.5% sales tax for highway funding. That measure will be on November’s ballot.
m Both candidates said they would want to study legislation that would allow court-ordered seizures of firearms without a criminal conviction. So-called red-flag laws have been adopted in other states as a way to reduce gun violence.
Cotton said those who have been deemed a danger to themselves or others shouldn’t have access to guns.
Randall said he supports the Second Amendment, and he wanted to review red-flag laws more closely.
State lawmakers will be paid $42,458 in addition to mileage and per diem for attending legislative meetings. State representatives are elected to two-year terms.
The primary election is March 3, and the general election is Nov. 3.
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