WASHINGTON -- Chris Jones is already thinking about the 2024 election, but don't expect to see his name on the ballot.
"You've got to make space," the former Arkansas gubernatorial candidate told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "If I don't make space for other people, then I'm not living up to the things that I put out there about inclusion and bringing everybody in the process."
Jones' attention on the next election cycle will be through a new political action committee, Vortex PAC, and its efforts to recruit and support other Democrats in their bids for public office.
Jones lost to Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders in last fall's race, in which Arkansans selected Sanders to be the state's first female governor. Jones is the state's first Black gubernatorial candidate nominated by a major party.
The contest wasn't close -- Sanders captured 63% of the vote compared with Jones' 35.2% share, but Jones outperformed other Democratic candidates running for constitutional offices.
Jones said the political action committee's first goal will be flipping all four of Arkansas' U.S. House of Representatives seats from Republican control.
"I'm constantly in contact with Arkansans who are talking about how do we make the state better," Jones said. "One of the things that became pretty clear was that you have better outcomes when you have this dialogue of ideas, this competition of ideas. The way that you get to this competition of ideas is if you have competition in the political process."
Jones said the focus on the House races stemmed from conversations with Arkansans wanting competitive contests involving the state's congressional delegation. While the state Democratic Party had candidates in the four races last fall, Republican incumbents cruised to victory.
"What we heard over and over was that the chaos that we are seeing in Congress now is not something that people want," Jones said. "It is not solving problems for Arkansans, and they want folks who will not only go there to solve problems, but will go there to make sure they are creating an environment that is more about community and less about chaos."
A Democrat has not represented Arkansans in the House of Representatives in a decade; Mike Ross left Congress' lower chamber in January 2013 while considering an eventual run for governor. Ross' successor, Republican Tom Cotton, would defeat incumbent Democrat Sen. Mark Pryor in the 2014 election, making the state's entire congressional delegation Republican.
Jones said the disarray in the current House is not tied to a person, but rather the situations marring the new Republican majority. The election of California's Kevin McCarthy as speaker took 15 rounds of voting over four days, and some Republicans took attention away from President Joe Biden's State of the Union address by jeering the president during his speech.
"I have three girls, and there are times when your kids do stuff and you're like, 'Oh, my Lord. Why?' The look on his face was just, 'Why?'" Jones said regarding McCarthy's reactions to the disruptive Republicans during the State of the Union address.
Analysts forecasted Republicans to win the four House races in last fall's election, and the ensuing results were not surprising. J. Miles Coleman with the University of Virginia's Center for Politics said he would expect similar feelings for the 2024 races when the time comes.
"[Jones] definitely seems to be swinging for the fences, I'll say that," Coleman added.
The associate editor of the center's Sabato's Crystal Ball newsletter, Coleman said Arkansas is a state where Republicans grew their influence in the last election by keeping and gaining seats in state and federal legislative bodies. Republicans grew their majorities in the state General Assembly following the most recent election; the GOP now controls 29 of the 35 state Senate seats and 82 of the 100 state House of Representatives seats.
"The Republicans entered the election with these super big majorities there, and they kept it standing," he said.
Once a state where Democrats had power and reliable footing, Arkansas now has a different generation of voters who overwhelmingly back Republican candidates. A Democrat has not held a constitutional office position since January 2015.
Jones said he understands the challenges facing Democrats who want to compete in House contests. When Vortex PAC supports a candidate, he said, the key actions will involve boosting public engagement and fielding competitive candidates, with the organization serving as a "cohort" in reaching potential voters.
According to Coleman, Democrats across the country have struggled to boost voter turnout among minority voters in the years following former President Barack Obama's electoral successes in 2008 and 2012.
"One way that they could probably be most productive, I'll say, is turnout with the Black vote in Arkansas, and really throughout the South wasn't that great in 2022," he said. "In Arkansas, there is a growing Hispanic vote. That's a group that Democrats probably want to reach out to."
Jones cited gerrymandering and voter suppression as factors in Republican victories. Voting rights advocates have challenged Arkansas' current congressional map and the decision to split Pulaski County's Black population from one district -- the Second Congressional District -- into the First and Fourth Districts.
"He does have a point to some extent," Coleman said. "Of course, Republicans were already favored, but just to make sure they were really favored, they went with that extra step."
Coleman stated Democrats' narrowest chances to win would be in the First and Fourth Congressional Districts, which encompass mainly rural parts of the state. He added the Second and Third Districts -- which include the Little Rock area and Northwest Arkansas, respectively -- present opportunities for competitive races.
"I would look at District 3. You have some pro-Democratic trends there, specifically Washington County, which is Fayetteville," Coleman said. "Joe Biden came very close to carrying Washington County when he ran in 2020, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders narrowly lost it."
Coleman said he doesn't believe Democrats can flip the seat in the next election cycle, but said there is the potential by the start of the next decade.
"Some of these political trends we talk about aren't linear," he said. "When Obama flipped Virginia in '08, it took a decade or so for Democrats to have full control of the state government ... and even in 2021, they had a hiccup."
Democratic Party of Arkansas Chairman Grant Tennille applauded Jones for his efforts to "call attention to Arkansas's moribund congressional delegation."
"It's time to send a few of those folks home and replace them with Democrats who want to work for a better Arkansas," Tennille added.
Seth Mays, executive director of the state Republican Party, described Vortex PAC as a move to "give Chris Jones the attention he couldn't get from the voters or Arkansas."
"The most this PAC will ever achieve is sucking money away from Democratic donors who love pre-packaged jargon and one-cycle 'news' stories," Mays said.
"Congressmen Rick Crawford, French Hill, Steve Womack, and Bruce Westerman have won their races under Democratic-drawn lines and now under Republican-drawn lines. They did so by fighting for conservative values and receiving the most votes in their race, something Chris Jones didn't come close to doing."
Jones said Arkansas voters need candidates capable of energizing voters, and he hopes the PAC forces candidates from both parties and the public to hold conversations about issues.
He compared the PAC to one goal of his former electoral rival. A month into her tenure, Sanders has unveiled part of an education plan that includes a voucher program that would allow students to enroll in either home or private schools. Jones opposes the voucher program's structure, but he understands Republicans' idea for the plan.
"The argument is that it breeds competition [with public education], and competition is good," he said. "One could easily apply that argument here. Let's introduce things that breed competition and are better for Arkansas voters."