ROGERS -- Republican state lawmakers from Benton County will be checked on their adherence to the party platform, state House candidates were told Tuesday at a meeting of the Benton County Republican Women.
A subcommittee of the Republican Party of Benton County was formed in December to check compliance with the party platform, subcommittee member Randy Alexander of Rogers told the group.
The decision triggered discussion within the state party, he said. A proposal to have the state party do the checking instead is set for discussion at the state convention in July, he said.
Benton County is the only county party he knows of that undertook such a procedure but he isn't familiar with other operations, Alexander said after the meeting. The subcommittee didn't release its findings on lawmakers but was authorized by the county party to give notice if any delegation member was seriously out of line with the platform, he said. No such finding went out, he said.
A group within the Republican Women's group will monitor faithfulness to the platform even if the county committee stops, said group member Lisa Richards.
The topic came up while the 50 or so members and associates of the women's group met with candidates in two GOP primaries. Candidates in the District 91 and 94 race all attended Tuesday's forum. Early voting in the March 3 primary began Tuesday.
The House 91 Republican candidates are Jorge Becker, Delia Haak and Scott Richardson. A runoff election will be March 31 if none of the candidates get 50% plus one vote in the primary. The winner will face Democrat Nick Jones in November. The District 94 Republican primary candidates are John P. Carr and Adrienne Woods. The winner will face Democrat Jene Huffman-Gilreath in November.
State Supreme Court candidate Barbara Webb also attended the forum.
Richardson said conservatives have taken too much for granted after the state Legislature became majority Republican, which happened in the 2012 elections. He made those remarks before Alexander and Richards spoke.
"There's a real surge by the opposite party here," Richardson said, referring to Democrats. He also said candidates more moderate than the electorate in the county are running as Republicans as a practical matter, given the party's historical dominance in local elections.
All candidates at Tuesday's forum assured the group of their long-standing conservative credentials.
NW News on 02/19/2020
This story was originally published at 1:08 a.m.