A race for one of the two GOP-controlled state House districts to encompass parts of Little Rock will be on the March 3 primary ballot, with two Republicans hoping to take over the seat now held by state Rep. Andy Davis.
Competing in the Republican primary are R.J. Hawk, a personality on radio station KABZ-FM, 103.7, “The Buzz,” and a member of the Bryant City Council, and Keith Brooks, the owner of an insurance business in Saline County.
Davis, who is from Little Rock, has represented District 31 since 2013 and rose through the House ranks before making an unsuccessful run for the speaker’s chair in 2018. He announced his retirement from the House last summer. His term expires in January.
His decision not to seek re-election drew heavy interest in the open House seat that has gone reliably Republican in recent years. At least five Republicans initially expressed interest in running, though only Brooks and Hawk put their names forward during the November 2019 filing period.
The winner of the primary will face Democrat Mazhil Rajendran and independent Sandy Furrer in the Nov. 3 general election.
While much of the district’s population lives in the western-most neighborhoods of Little Rock, it also stretches to include parts of Bryant as well as rural Saline and Pulaski counties. Both Hawk, 34, and Brooks, 44, live in Saline County.
Early on, Hawk outpaced Brooks in fundraising, collecting $23,200 by the end of December compared with Brooks’ haul of $8,400. That has given Hawk a heavy cash advantage, despite the two candidates spending similar amounts over the first three months of the campaign.
“I’ve had a lot of support in Pulaski County, which I thought might be a bit of a struggle for,” Hawk said. “We’re going to do the direct mail because you know the district’s very rural, and so there’s a lot of people that they live out in the country and they don’t want you driving up onto their property to come talk to them. I’m still doing that to an extent.”
Hawk has also touted the support of two of the state’s top Republicans, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he would remain neutral in the primary, saying both Hawk and Brooks were “quality” candidates. Davis, the district’s departing representative, also declined to endorse anyone in the primary.
Brooks also said that part of his voter-outreach efforts would rely on mail ads, though he indicated that he would rely more heavily on in-person campaigning.
“We’re spending a lot of our time getting to know people on a face-to-face basis,” Brooks said.
On the issues, neither candidate expressed a stark contrast with the other. Both said they would support a proposal to permanently extend the state’s half-percent sales tax to raise money for highways.
They also both said they would oppose, if such a proposal were introduced to the Legislature, so-called “red flag laws,” which allow a judge to order the temporary confiscation of firearms from people deemed to pose a risk to themselves or others.
Both candidates also said they were generally supportive of the state’s expanded Medicaid program — also known as Arkansas Works — though Hawk did not commit to voting for the program’s annual budget reauthorization.
“I still need to get some more information as far as how I would vote,” said Hawk, adding that he was to meet with several current lawmakers to discuss the program.
Both candidates said they would fall back on their experience and personal backgrounds in an effort to win votes.
Hawk, who was elected to the Bryant City Council last year, pointed to his “proven voting record” on political issues, including the council’s vote to dissolve the city’s Advertising and Promotion Commission and a related tax over a dispute involving the commission’s spending.
“It comes down to money. Every year you have to pass a new budget in Bryant just like in any other city,” Hawk said. “I found ways to cut money out of the budget.”
Brooks described his “conscientious conservative” ideology, which he said stemmed from his experience with Arkansas’ systems for children with developmental disabilities. The candidate’s middle child was diagnosed with a disability as a toddler.
“We navigated that system and found it very difficult to fight through,” said Brooks, while crediting the state Legislature with improvements in recent years. “We need people who are willing to push the issue on that, and not be willing to be OK with a generation being pushed aside.”
Early voting in the March 3 primary begins on Feb. 18.
After the Nov. 3 general election, the winner of the state House race will take office in January 2021 to begin serving a two-year term.