El Dorado’s Shepherd poised for third term as state House speaker

Speaker of the House Matthew Shepherd poses for photos near his desk in the house chambers at the state capitol on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023.

(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)
Speaker of the House Matthew Shepherd poses for photos near his desk in the house chambers at the state capitol on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

EL DORADO -- The man who is set to become the longest-serving Arkansas House speaker doesn't have a lot to say. Instead, he listens.

Matthew Shepherd, a 46-year-old lawyer from El Dorado, is poised to enter his third full term as speaker. In the 12 years since Shepherd has come into office, the political balance of Arkansas has shifted more than perhaps any other state's.

For almost all of the past 150 years since Reconstruction, Arkansas was ruled by Democrats. But since taking office in 2011, Shepherd has moved from back-bencher in the minority to an unprecedented third full term as House speaker.

While Shepherd may be the speaker of the Arkansas House, he is hardly its voice. In an age of partisanship and social media point-scoring, Shepherd's governing style sets him apart from most other political leaders. He's reserved to the point of being described by some as quiet. Often, many -- even some of his closest allies -- do not know what he thinks about a given issue, and he commands rare bipartisan respect in a deeply divided political landscape.

"He is very low-key. He doesn't like the spotlight. He doesn't want to read about himself in the newspaper," said state Rep. Jon Eubanks, a close ally of Shepherd. "People I think take his quiet, reserved attitude as a weakness, and that would be a mistake."

Shepherd is set to enter an unprecedented third full term as speaker, with the power to pick committee chairs, shape the chamber's rules and help set the legislative agenda. When the House convenes Monday, it will be the largest Republican majority to take office since Reconstruction.

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Shepherd commands bipartisan trust among lawmakers in the House and is described as fair and methodical, but even if pressed may not tell others what he is thinking.

"He would be a great poker player, because you wouldn't know what he's holding because he keeps his cards close to the vest," said Eubanks, the speaker pro tempore.

On policy for the legislative session, Shepherd said he defers to Gov.-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders. When it comes to whom he will appoint to chair committees, not even his closest allies know who he will pick.

"There isn't a member in the House who knows what position they're going to have and what role they are going to play," said State Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage.

Shepherd balks when pressed on legislative priorities, partly because he may have not made up his mind and partly because he said he doesn't think it's for himself to decide.

A KNOWN QUANTITY

For many in the House, Shepherd is the only speaker they have worked with and Gov. Asa Hutchinson is the only executive they have known during their time in the House.

Beginning this week, there will be a new governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer and auditor. Almost every Cabinet secretary, with a few exceptions, will be new. Despite every major office in the state remaining in Republican hands, Shepherd will be one of only a few who is expected to remain in his current job as the legislative session begins.

At his law office in El Dorado, Shepherd reflected on his time as speaker. No House speaker in Arkansas has served three terms, but it's likely he will be reelected speaker for the third time Monday.

"I'm a known quantity," he said. "For me to have these opportunities [to serve as speaker] there's nothing I can do, it's all about the membership."

Unlike the speaker of the House in Washington, D.C., Shepherd and his colleagues see him as the leader of the entirety of the Arkansas House, including the 18 Democratic representatives.

House Minority :eader Tippi McCullough, D-Little Rock, is hard-pressed to say a critical word about the Republican speaker.

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"When he says he is the leader of the House, he is the leader of the entire House with the Democrats being a part of that, and I certainly appreciate that," McCullough said. "With our numbers where they are it would be easy for him to discount us, but I don't believe he does."

Respect among Democrats is something Shepherd has held even as the chamber has become increasingly dominated by conservative lawmakers. In recent legislative sessions the General Assembly passed controversial laws, from banning transgender health care for children to the state's abortion ban that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

But even as the General Assembly grows more conservative, with the legislation it passes reflecting that, McCullough said Shepherd is the best Republican friend Democrats could hope for, saying he is committed to not bending the rules to hurt the minority party.

"It's hard to dislike someone that exhibits character every day," she said. "When you are this outnumbered and you think who could be speaker, you are just so grateful you have someone who is a good person."

When it comes to policy, Shepherd often takes a back seat and lets members lead the way rather than pushing his priorities. As is traditional for the speaker, he rarely votes on legislation, reflecting an old custom that the speaker is a neutral arbiter above the fray.

"You are above the partisan role," said former speaker Jeremy Gillam, now the director of governmental affairs at the University of Central Arkansas. "You are given the responsibility of overseeing the entire chamber, so all the members, their welfare, all of those things, are within the responsibility that you are given to ensure that the session runs smoothly."

Gillam and Shepherd entered the House in 2011 as freshman Republicans in a Democratically controlled Legislature. In 2013, the House flipped to Republican control for the first time since Reconstruction, clearing the way for Shepherd to chair the House Judiciary Committee, which cleared the way for a spot in leadership.

"He was kind of reserved, almost to the point of being a little shy, but as he's been in public office he's [more] engaging now," said State Rep. Lane Jean, R-Magnolia, a close ally of Shepherd. "He's just showed the ability he can lead in a fair manner, and that's important for a lot of members, to be fair, to be heard."

A group of 47 Republican lawmakers signed a letter Friday asking Shepherd to exclude Democrats from leadership positions on the House committees, saying "winning elections comes with responsibility and the authority to govern." Through a spokeswoman, Shepherd declined to comment on the letter.

For some, being a known quantity has its downside.

In 2022, state Rep. Austin McCollum, R-Bentonville, challenged Shepherd for the speakership, saying the House Republican Caucus should at least get a vote to gauge Shepherd's support.

McCollum said before Shepherd serves a third term as speaker he should at least be challenged, saying he worries the longer Shepherd holds the gavel the more power he accrues.

"My main message is the longer an individual is in that position of power, the more [purposeful] they have to be about the individual members and making sure they are heard," McCollum said.

McCollum said he commends Shepherd for "decentralizing" power, saying he is glad the speaker gave up the power to assign members to committees, instead giving preference to seniority. A member of a young, conservative faction of House Republicans, McCollum said he thinks Shepherd will have less influence in his third term.

"I think the best thing about him being speaker for a third term is that Sarah Sanders will be governor," he said.

With an 82-seat House Republican Caucus, some members admit it can get unwieldy, with different factions of lawmakers demanding different things. While a narrow majority may be harder to corral, a large one can have its challenges.

Shepherd deferred when asked about what will take precedence, saying new laws will be up to other members, not him.

"A lot of the things that maybe as an individual member I might have been pushing or trying to move forward, there's some of those things you have put on the back burner once you become speaker, because now it's not just about what I want to see happen," he said. "It's really you're having to think about the body as a whole."

PLAY-BY-PLAY

As a football fan growing up in a small Arkansas city, Shepherd said he dreamed not of playing for the Dallas Cowboys -- his favorite NFL team -- or leading the Arkansas Razorbacks, but of coaching the El Dorado High School Wildcats.

Perhaps more than anything, he said his upbringing in El Dorado shaped his politics. While the Democrat Party controlled Arkansas, Shepherd grew up in a family of Republicans.

His father, Bob Shepherd, was a lawyer and later a U.S. circuit court judge, and his mom, Bobbi, is a retired history teacher. Like his father, Shepherd graduated from Ouachita Baptist University and then law school at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

In high school, Shepherd got a chance to play quarterback for El Dorado High School, fulfilling a lifelong ambition.

"I believe because I played football at El Dorado, because I developed those friendships across racial lines, across socioeconomic lines, that in part is why I'm sitting here as a state representative and probably in part why I'm sitting here as speaker of the House," he said.

If you want to hear Shepherd speak, you can always tune into KIX-103 in El Dorado, where he does the play-by-play for the El Dorado Wildcats on the radio with his brother John Thomas Shepherd. The two have a law practice together, and last season they started calling games together on the radio, with John Thomas doing color commentary.

John Thomas Shepherd said it is not entirely accurate to describe his brother as quiet. The fact that he chooses to listen rather than speak is a tactic, he said, not an act of shyness.

"I wouldn't describe him as quiet necessarily, I think that's part of him listening," John Thomas Shepherd said.

As for what comes next for Shepherd, he won't say.

"I kind of take things a day at a time," Shepherd said. "My focus right now is preparing for the session and having a good and effective session, but beyond that we'll have to see what opportunities present themselves."

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