Two candidates are vying to represent parts of North Little Rock and Sherwood in an open seat in the state House of Representatives.
Democrat Victoria Leigh, an attorney from North Little Rock, said expanding pre-kindergarten offerings and helping House District 38's senior citizens are the cornerstones of her platform.
"We've got to prioritize the issues that affect folks in this district every day," she said. "My values dictate that we support the most vulnerable people in our communities."
She faces Republican Carlton Wing, a television producer and former sportscaster for KARK-TV, Channel 4, who said he wanted to improve the quality of political discourse while trimming excess government.
"Here in Arkansas we have a history of working together, and that's what I want to continue trying to do," he said.
Leigh is 29, which makes her a millennial, she said. She is married, has two children and said she lives in the house she grew up in. About 40 percent of the district's residents are over the age of 60, she said.
"I will be the youngest woman at the Capitol," she said. "We need diversity of experience down there. How are we going to move into the future if we don't have representation of the people?"
She criticized state leaders for cutting funding to the Meals on Wheels program, while spending $1.7 million on improvements to the Governor's Mansion.
"Those are not the priorities of me, my family or the people who live here," Leigh said. "We need to bring District 38 into the future, and I'm the representative who can do that."
Leigh said Arkansas has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the nation, but education, and especially pre-kindergarten programs, help students make good choices while preparing them for jobs.
"We're not planning ahead to improve the economy, and that's what education does," she said. "It's the great equalizer across the community."
Wing is 49 and married, and he has two daughters and two sons. He said he's about to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary; he met his wife on election night in 1̶9̶9̶1̶ 1990.*
He said he's taken his children with him on the campaign trail.
"They've met a lot of people who have different experiences and different backgrounds, and yet everybody has a common goal. We all want to be happy," he said. "It's good for us all to be exposed to the people in our society. It helps us reach out more."
The state Medicaid expansion was the result of Democrats and Republicans working together toward a common goal, he said, and expanding funding for pre-kindergarten programs could become another example.
"How it's implemented, that's when we sit down at the table," he said.
Wing said he would represent the values of his district if elected.
"I think of what my career has been -- I got to be a sportscaster. I got to cover my beloved Razorbacks that I grew up cheering for. Now, I produce fishing shows and a lot of people think that's just the dream gig, but 100 years ago those jobs didn't exist," he said. "It took a bunch of people over time having the freedom to dream and create."
"What government does best is it creates the framework, ensures fairness, and then gets out of the way and lets the individual dream and thrive, and eventually it created an opportunity for sportscasters to exist."
Like Wing, Leigh said she would support the state Medicaid expansion if elected.
First approved by the Legislature in 2013, the expansion of the Medicaid program extended insurance coverage to adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level: $16,394 for an individual, for instance, or $33,534 for a family of four.
Most of those covered under the expanded part of the program receive the coverage through what is known as the private option, which uses Medicaid funds to buy coverage through private insurance plans. More than 300,000 Arkansans have been enrolled for coverage through the Medicaid expansion.
Leigh said abortion is a "medical decision between a woman, her family and her doctor. Bureaucrats in Little Rock and bureaucrats in D.C. have no business interjecting themselves into a patient's health care decision."
Wing said he is against abortion but that he can support exemptions in cases involving the life of the mother, rape and incest.
Leigh said medical marijuana is a personal decision and that she planned to vote in favor of it in the general election.
Wing said he opposes Issue 6 and Issue 7, which each would allow the use of medical marijuana under different circumstances.
On tax cuts, Leigh said she believed it would be irresponsible to cut taxes on the wealthiest people in the state.
Pre-kindergarten, libraries and senior-citizen centers already are underfunded, she said.
Wing said he believes in smaller government.
"I think, many times, we need to look at government through what we can we take away," he said. "Government seems to grow all the time."
House District 38, once regularly held by Democrats, is now held by a Republican, Donnie Copeland of North Little Rock. Copeland challenged a fellow Republican, Sen. Jane English, in her re-election bid for Senate District 34, and lost.
Leigh and Wing are vying for a position that pays $39,400 a year, plus per diem and mileage for attending legislative meetings. The term is for two years.
Metro on 10/16/2016
*CORRECTION: Carlton Wing, a Republican candidate who is running for the District 38 seat in the state House of Representatives, met his future wife on election night in 1990. This article misstated the year.