The five candidates seeking Arkansas' Democratic gubernatorial nomination in the primary election range from a self-described Democratic capitalist to a self-described Arkansas progressive, with priorities such as expanding access to preschool programs and providing targeted tax breaks to small businesses and family farms.
Most of the candidates say they support raising the state's $11-an-hour minimum wage, oppose more restrictions on abortion and are reluctant to embrace an expansion of the state's prisons.
With the May 24 primary nearing and with an eye on the Nov. 8 general election, the five Democratic candidates have been contrasting their experiences and top priorities without taking public shots at one another.
"We may have differences among each other, but we all recognize the common threat to the prosperity and unity of the people of Arkansas is the candidate the Republicans are raising millions to send to the White House with a short-term stop at our Capitol in Little Rock," said businesswoman Supha Xayprasith-Mays of Little Rock.
"The PEOPLE deserve better," she said Thursday in a written statement when asked about why none of the five Democratic candidates criticized one another by name in recent interviews with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
The Democratic candidates are vying for the right to take on the Republican nominee -- former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Little Rock or podcaster Doc Washburn of Little Rock -- and Libertarian candidate Rickey Dale Harrington Jr. of Pine Bluff in the general election.
If none of the five Democratic candidates wins a majority of the votes in the May 24 primary, then the top two vote-getters will advance to a June 21 runoff election. One of the candidates, Chris Jones of Little Rock, has reported raising substantially more in contributions and spending substantially more than the other four candidates combined.
The winner of the general election will succeed Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Rogers, who has been governor since 2015. The governor's salary is $158,739 a year.
Jones, a former executive director of the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub, said voters should cast their ballots for him because the state needs a leader who has enough experience to understand the depth and breadth of the challenges that it faces, the humility to know that he doesn't know it all, and the empathy and compassion to lift up the voices of the marginalized and those who are left out and to bring them to the table in a substantive way.
He said his campaign is the only one that has the groundswell of support and boots on the ground and is geared up to challenge Sanders.
Jones, who is a self-described hopeful pragmatist, said his campaign has been building infrastructure with offices in Hughes, Pine Bluff and Little Rock to increase voter engagement and participation.
Jay Martin of Little Rock, a self-described bridge builder, said Arkansans should vote for him to be the Democratic nominee in part because he is the only candidate who has been an elected official and has brought Democrats and Republicans together as House Democratic leader to turn good ideas into legislation.
He said he has a unique background as a lawyer, a small-business owner and a pastor at Metro Worship Center.
Anthony "Tony" Bland of Little Rock, a Little Rock School District educator and technology specialist, said voters should cast their ballots for him because "I am running to be a voice of the people."
"I'm not trying to get rich on the backs of the people of the state," he said.
Bland said his political philosophy "is like planting seeds in a garden. If you care for the people you represent, they will have endless possibilities for growth and prosperity."
James "Rus'" Russell III of Little Rock said voters should support him because he is the main candidate who remembers that even $50 can often determine whether people have enough money to pay for food, medication and other necessities of life.
"The majority of people in elected office are completely out of touch with what that's like," said Russell, who is a self-described Arkansas progressive.
Xayprasith-Mays, who is a self-described Democratic capitalist, said voters should cast their ballots for her because "the failed political class has ensured that Arkansas consistently remains at the bottom of national rankings for health care, education and public safety."
"As governor I will work with the people to return power to its citizens to unleash our full potential as the Natural State," she said.
TOP PRIORITIES
Jones said his top priorities include his spreading "PB&J" agenda -- preschool, broadband and jobs. He said his goal is to expand preschool to serve all 3- and 4-year-olds across the state with high-quality programs.
He said it would cost $25 million to $30 million more to provide adequate funding for existing programs, and he's still calculating how much it would cost to serve all 3- and 4-year-olds.
Jones said he wants to make a targeted and concerted effort to finish the job of expanding broadband coverage with a focus on rural areas, the Delta and south Arkansas, and to strengthen roads and bridges and invest in water infrastructure.
He said he wants to support mom-and-pop shops with tax incentives and provide other regional support, such as the Eliza Miller Opportunity Hub in Helena-West Helena. He said he wants to continue with the state's financial technology accelerator and create an agriculture technology accelerator and transportation and logistics technology accelerator to support ideas becoming companies and growing.
Jones said Hutchinson has done a good job of recruiting industry, with Jones adding that he wants to increase the focus on the Delta, south Arkansas and the most rural areas.
Martin said he would build on the successive efforts of Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and Hutchinson in economic development, and he wants to press to get more federal jobs in Arkansas. There are opportunities to recruit jobs tied to the Space Force and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he said.
He said he wants to provide more access to quality mental health care and drug addiction treatment and expand broadband coverage, roads, bridges and airports.
Martin said he wants to provide excellent public schools and make sure students are safe in school. He said he wants to provide targeted tax cuts for small businesses and family farms to help them and create a recall process for state elected officials.
Bland said his top priorities include improving education, providing livable wages, advocating for not only attainable but also affordable universal health care for all Arkansans, and enacting an accountable criminal justice measure with a focus on reducing recidivism.
He said he wants to invest more in trade schools, that he supports the expansion of cellular coverage as well as broadband, and that he would work to reduce pharmaceutical prices.
Russell said his top priorities include figuring out what is broken in Arkansas education because taxpayers spend a lot of money on education and have not received "any kind of return on investment." He said he wants to implement reading programs in preschool, expand after-school programs and provide a broader range of experiences at all ages, and he wants skilled trades to be viewed as equally valuable compared with any higher education.
He said he wants to expand broadband access, increase the number of electric car charging stations in the state, and improve roads and water systems with increased funding from the federal infrastructure law. He said he supports universal background checks on private gun sales to help fight violent crime without invading the privacy of gun owners.
Xayprasith-Mays said her top priorities would include paying teachers more, aiming to provide residents with affordable health care, and allocating funds to recruit and train the best state and local law enforcement officers.
She said she believes that teachers should be paid an average of $70,000 a year. In fiscal 2021, which ended June 30, the average classroom teacher salary was $52,552, according to the state Department of Education.
Xayprasith-Mays said her goal to raise teacher compensation would require a collaborative effort with businesses and industries in Arkansas as well as an increased commitment from the state government.
"My Teachers Black Card Initiative will encourage businesses to provide discounts to teachers for all categories of daily expenses," she said. "We must treat our teachers as preferred customers of our economy. As governor, I will immediately raise salaries by 10% and develop a teacher bonus system that would be funded by the state surpluses. The combination of pay increases and the reduction of living expenses through our program will set us on a path to have our teachers living a lifestyle worthy of their contributions to society."
Xayprasith-Mays said her focus as governor "would be to eliminate untraceable mail order ghost guns from our streets and homes."
"Law abiding citizens don't need ghost guns, and those assembling and selling them will be stopped," she said.
MINIMUM WAGE
Jones said he supports an increase in the state's minimum wage, but he's not ready to propose an increase on his own at this point.
He noted that voters in 2018 approved a ballot measure that phased in an increase in the state's minimum wage from $8.50 an hour to $11 an hour.
Martin said he's concerned about a minimum wage increase affecting small businesses and family farms, and he wants to make sure they could afford such an increase.
"It's a better approach to grow the economy and work with family farms and Main Street and small businesses on an approach that works with them and their needs," he said. "Growing business requires more employees, so that's what we want."
Bland said he wants the state's minimum wage to be increased with inflation and that it "should be tied to economic growth in the state." A minimum wage of $30,000 a year should be a goal, Bland said.
"With state economic and financial growth more people will receive and spend money, [and] this will give businesses a financial increase and it will put businesses in a position to pay the wage increase," he said.
Russell said he wants the state's minimum wage to increase to $15 an hour as a starting point and would eventually increase the minimum to $21 an hour to keep up with inflation.
He said he believes businesses can afford to pay a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
Xayprasith-Mays said the state's minimum wage should be $15 an hour and that businesses could afford the increase "if government would help."
A minimum wage of $15 an hour is difficult for many businesses but necessary to raise the standard of living for thousands of Arkansans, she said. As governor, she said, she would propose a phased tax credit to help smaller-sized businesses and startups build their businesses while enhancing the lives of their workers.
ABORTION STANCES
Jones said he supports the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion, and he opposes additional restrictions on abortion, including "vigilante-style bills" patterned after Texas' civil cause of action law.
Martin said he opposes abortion except to save the life of the mother and in cases of rape or incest.
"We have lost a lot of precious life by abortion by demand," he said.
To the extent that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade could be overturned, "I am pro-life [and] I have no problems with putting limits on abortion," Martin said.
Bland said he supports a woman's right to choose and opposes additional restrictions on abortion.
Russell said that "I'm pro-women's autonomy" and would oppose further restrictions on abortion by instead expanding access to birth control measures and seeking to close the gender wage gap.
Xayprasith-Mays said she doesn't believe government or men should make decisions for women about what they do with their bodies.
"I should have to make that choice because I have to live with it," she said. "That is a decision a woman should make."
PRISON EXPANSION
Jones said he opposes large-scale prison expansion and favors keeping communities safe with more investment in preschool, mental health and drug rehab services; improved policing; and workforce training programs.
These investments can contribute to a decrease in crimes and can ensure that prisons have space for violent crime perpetrators, he said. He said he doesn't believe that growth in prison beds is inevitable.
Bland said money for prison expansion would be better spent on reducing recidivism and getting people back into being productive citizens in society rather than being consistent criminals.
Russell said he opposes prison and jail expansions because an expansion "indicates that you expect or want higher incarceration rates."
"We should be looking at more proactive prevention measures, not reactive ones," he said.
Xayprasith-Mays said she opposes adding prison space and wants to be proactive in teaching children in the public schools, helping them learn skills.
Martin said he has "a public safety concept where nonviolent offenders and those who are at risk of re-offending are encouraged to choose jobs over jails."
"As governor, I will support the local police and communities' efforts to remove violent offenders from our streets even if it includes building more prisons," he said.