Former Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney finished his tour campaigning for Arkansas Republicans Thursday by endorsing U.S. Senate candidate Tom Cotton at a North Little Rock news conference.
The former Massachusetts governor spoke to reporters after a fundraiser for Cotton at the Wyndham Riverfront-Little Rock hotel in North Little Rock. He framed the nationally watched U.S. Senate race between Cotton and two-term incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor as a chance to derail policies set by President Barack Obama.
Democratic leaders have branded the GOP as "the party of 'no'" this year, but Romney said Republicans will be able to advance their agenda once they control both houses of Congress.
"If you have the Republican majority in the Senate, even by one vote, and a Republican majority in the House, we will be able to pass laws that deal with immigration, that deal with energy, that deal with a whole series of issues that are affecting the American people," Romney said. "And those will go to the president's desk. And the president will either sign them or veto them. We'll see who's really the person of 'no' at that point."
Romney, who won more than 60 percent of the Arkansas vote while claiming the state's six electoral votes in 2012, also campaigned for Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson in Jonesboro on Wednesday. Out-of-state Republican leaders have stumped across Arkansas this week and are scheduled to make stops next week to rally votes in congressional races and for the governor's seat.
Romney on Thursday did not mention Pryor by name but criticized Cotton's opponent for claiming he's an independent Democrat.
Cotton, who appeared at the event with his wife and parents, focused Thursday on immigration and health care matters and the differences between the two candidates.
"Arkansans did render their judgment on the Obama agenda two years ago when they voted for Gov. Romney. They do have a chance to render that judgment and make it effective in 2014 by retiring Mark Pryor," Cotton said.
"I'll be a senator who, when I say 'Arkansas comes first,' I'll mean it," he added.
Pryor spokesman Erik Dorey disputed Cotton's claim late Thursday.
"After voting to give tax breaks to billionaires while opposing disaster relief and cutting [Arkansas] Children's Hospital [funding], when Tom Cotton says he puts Arkansas first, he must mean first on the chopping block," Dorey said.
Romney beat Obama by 23 percentage points in Arkansas in 2012 and carried 66 of the state's 75 counties, but he said Thursday he isn't gearing up to run again.
"No, I'm having the fun of being out campaigning for people I believe in," he said. "I obviously can't go to all the states and all the races that I care about, but there are some that are really critical, and this state is one of those."
Metro on 08/22/2014