District 95 to choose new House member

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's District 95 state House race pits a Republican newcomer who defeated an incumbent for the nomination against a challenger in a 2014 race for Congress who is seeking his first win.

photo

Austin McCollum

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Grant Brand

Austin McCollum of Bentonville became the Republican nominee by defeating Rep. Sue Scott, R-Rogers, in the March 1 primary. Scott was a two-term incumbent.

Arkansas

House of Representatives

District 95

Libertarian

Grant Brand

Age: 35

Residency: Pea Ridge

Employment: Code compliance supervisor for a local nonprofit group

Education: Attended Culver-Stockton College, Canton, Mo.

Political experience: Unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Congress in 2014.

Republican

Austin McCollum

Age: 25

Residency: Bentonville

Employment: Business analysis, Wal-Mart home office

Education: Bachelor of science, business administration, information systems, University of Tulsa

Political experience: None.

Source: Staff report

McCollum faces Libertarian Grant Brand of Pea Ridge, who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Steve Womack of Rogers for Arkansas' 3rd Congressional District seat in 2014. Womack is Republican. Brand ran on the Libertarian ticket in that race, too.

No Democrat is running in the Nov. 8 election for District 95, which includes portions of Bentonville and Rogers and stretches north to the Missouri border. Early voting begins Monday.

"I have more experience in more fields," Brand said, comparing himself to McCollum. "I grew up rough and poor and have worked in jobs including as security in a scrap yard."

Brand now works as a code enforcement supervisor for a nonprofit group that requested he not involve its name in a partisan political race, he said.

Brand became involved in politics because he wants the smallest, most efficient government possible, he said.

"I don't want to ram Libertarian philosophy down people's throats," he said. "I want people to know I am available, willing to work for them. I want them to know my phone number, to know they can contact me directly.

Transportation, for instance, is a controversial issue within the Libertarian Party with its reluctance to support major government projects, "but the road to Pea Ridge has people waiting in traffic for too long and needs improvement," he said.

McCollum and Brand are both conservative on social issues such as gun owners rights and abortion, each said. McCollum hopes to make the state "a more competitive place to work and invest in," he said. "Obviously that includes a good look at taxes, such as consistently reducing the state income tax."

McCollum also wants to do more to encourage growth in skilled jobs, particularly in the information technology fields. He supports the governor's efforts to require computer coding classes in public schools.

"We have too many businesses who can't find skilled workers and, at the same time, too many young people with a degree after five or six years in college who can't find a job," McCollum said.

In another issue, the state's commissions that oversee various skilled trades and a large body of regulations over those trades. This makes it difficult for young workers who want to enter regulated fields, he said.

McCollum said the current process for drafting the state's budget could be more simple, or at least more transparent.

"I don't think the lack of transparency is deliberate. I don't think people are trying to hide things," he said. "But it is a system that could be more open."

NW News on 10/18/2016

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