ROGERS — House District 95 voters have Northwest Arkansas’ only independent candidate for the state Legislature on their ballots.

Independent Mark Moore is running against Republican nominee Sue Scott. Scott is the retired owner of a Rogers-based catering business and the wife of Circuit Judge John Scott. She faced no opposition in the GOP primary and drew no Democratic opponent in the general election.

Incumbent Donna Hutchinson, R-Bella Vista, is not eligible to run again because of the state constitution’s limits on legislative terms.

“I’m not running against Sue Scott, ” Moore said in an interview. “I’m running against a system where representatives don’t represent their constituents any more. They represent their party.

“The thing that really got me into this race was something said during a presidential debate” among Republican candidates, Moore said. Conservative former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., was asked why he voted for something his constituents did not want, Moore said.

“He replied that sometimes, you have to take one for the team. That comment really stuck with me,” he said. “These candidates think their team is the political party they are in, not the people they were elected to represent.”

Scott said she is going door to door in her campaign and taking the time to talk to people, sometimes to the dismay of her campaign advisers.

“I’m supposed to knock 100 doors a night, they tell me. I got 28 last night because I stay and listen,” she said. “I’m going to knock on doors this year, and, if I am elected, I’m going to do it again whether I have an opponent or not.

“That’s what we’re elected to do: represent people.”

A large number of constituents in her district support the proposed expansion of the state Medicaid program, Scott said.

“I have a lot of people telling me that it’s just too good a deal to pass up,” she said.

The plan would make an estimated 250,000 low-income, working Arkansans eligible for the state-run, federally supported health care plan. Scott is undecided on the issue, she said.

Moore opposes the expansion.

The expansion is a part of the federal health care reform act. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled states are not required to participate, making the expansion a legislative decision. The federal government would bear all of the expansion’s expense for the first three years and 90 percent thereafter, according to the plan. Support for the measure in this region, according to forums on the topic and campaign statements, is divided along party lines. Most Democratic candidates support it and most Republican candidates oppose it.

“I am worried about keeping the safety net we have,” Moore said of the Medicaid expansion plan. “I hear what they’re saying, that the feds are going to pay. That’s like launching a new business with the most indebted institution in history. I’m not convinced the federal government can keep up their end of the bargain.”

Scott remains undecided because she is not convinced the expansion deal is as good as it looks, she said.

One of her major legislative priorities would be child safety in all aspects, particularly against child predators. The region is far more accessible to those who would victimize children than in the past, with more traffic and easier escapes along interstate highways, she said.

Her main reason for running is because she has the time and the background to dedicate to the position, Scott said.

Moore will support local control of schools and would work to change the way the state Highway Commission distributes money so that more of it will go to high-traffic areas.