Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday endorsed 81 candidates from 14 states for November's midterm elections, but none of Obama's picks is from Arkansas.
The list -- the first of two the 44th president plans to release -- includes candidates for Congress and statewide offices, but the bulk of the candidates are running for their respective state legislatures.
Spokesmen for Democratic state Rep. Clarke Tucker of Little Rock, who is running for the 2nd Congressional District seat, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jared Henderson said Thursday that endorsements from the former president weren't on their radar. Tucker is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. French Hill and Henderson faces Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
"We have never discussed any such endorsement and aren't focusing on national endorsements at this time," said Abby Anderson, Henderson's communications director. "Jared is working to gain the support of Arkansans as he campaigns across the state."
Similarly, Graham Senor, a Tucker spokesman, said an Obama endorsement "is just not something we're thinking about."
In addition to the endorsements, Obama also plans to hit the campaign trail to stump for some of those candidates before the November elections.
Gary Nordlinger, a professional in residence at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, said candidates like Tucker and Henderson didn't fit the bill of most of those Obama endorsed.
"They focused primarily on people of color and unusual candidates, for lack of a better word," Nordlinger said.
Obama's list didn't include any incumbents, and it skewed toward candidates backed by the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which is led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder with a mission to take redistricting control from the GOP.
Hal Bass, professor emeritus of political science at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, noted the two keys to a successful campaign -- energizing the base and reaching out to potential, undecided voters.
"I think an endorsement from President Obama would be far more influential in exciting the base," Bass said.
An Obama spokesman declined to address why certain candidates and states were excluded from the list, but she noted that a second wave of endorsements will be released in the fall.
The states on Wednesday's list were: California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
In Arkansas, Democrats once held most state and national offices. In recent years, Republicans took control of both houses of the Legislature. They also hold all seven of the constitutional offices, all four U.S. House seats and both U.S. Senate seats.
The general election is Nov. 6.
Metro on 08/03/2018