Arkansas: Clinton-era to MAGA lab

The Arkansas governor’s official residence’s great staircase is covered in a carpet with the names of all governors, including Bill Clinton. Sarah Huckabee Sanders descends it. It’s hard to think Bill and Hillary ruled this southern state, now a MAGA lab, for over a decade.

The daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee became famous after being President Donald Trump’s spokesman from 2017 to 2019. At a White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, D.C., she was blasted for “burning the facts and then using the ashes to create a perfect smoky eye” and mimicking Aunt Lydia from The Handmaid’s Tale.

The smell of bacon and scrambled eggs permeates Sarah Sanders’ Little Rock neo-Georgian estate on this August morning. She will announce the 14 2025 Arkansas Teacher of the Year finalists to education professionals. She credits her three children for keeping her “humble” and then reiterates some of her “Arkansas Learns” plan’s strong measures: Teachers will receive a significant salary raise, 12 weeks of maternity leave, and new assistance for struggling readers.

His education agenda also bans critical race theory and other “indoctrination,” and he offers a voucher system that lets parents enroll their children in a highly rated private school—like a religious school—instead of the local public school without breaking the bank. Oklahoma and Louisiana require Bible instruction and Ten Commandments postings in classrooms, but Arkansas does not.

Culture War

The US culture war is playing out in Arkansas. Governor Sanders approved a measure prohibiting trans persons from accessing gender-specific restrooms and locker rooms and discouraging health providers from delivering gender-affirming care. She believes “it is only the woke, far-left vision of America that is not adequate to protect children.” She also wants a monument commemorating Arkansas abortions before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Jay Barth, director of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, thinks Arkansas‘ “pragmatic populism” era is over. Political polarization has swept over the 3-million-person state. Now, governor candidates’ personality are less significant. For a long time, Arkansas politics has downplayed social issues. He says, standing steps from a 1990s replica of the White House Oval Office, where visitors can have their portrait taken behind the Resolute Desk for $15, that education, health care, and other substantive issues have received more attention than hot-button social issues.

From blue to red

Arkansas is one-party. The state was Democratic from 1874 until 2010. The donkey party lost the governorship three times—1967-1971, 1981-1983, and 1996-2007—but dominated the General Assembly until Barack Obama’s president. The urban black man struggled to connect with rural Arkansas. White man Donald Trump won. Arkansas turned blue to crimson since then.

Patsy Sharp rejects her “too spicy” soup at a coffee shop. The retired federal servant, who migrated to Arkansas from Oklahoma 50 years ago, is a staunch Democrat. “When I arrived, they asked, ‘What do you want to vote for?’ I said ‘ Republican!’ “Honey, you don’t want to be a Republican in this state. No one will vote for you. I voted Dem! She refuses to try her soup again, saying she’s done that since.

Patsy remains a Democrat while most of her friends and family have moved to Republicans. For life or death. She looks at the flower on the table and says she doesn’t believe Sarah Sanders or Donald Trump, who “lies like he breathes.” “My kids don’t even realize it,” she complains. Hillary and Bill have a goal to lead America to prosperity.

Bill Clinton left more than a presidential library, airport, boulevard, and portraits in Little Rock government buildings; he prioritized education and ethics by regulating campaign finance and lobbying. Bill Clinton also allowed women and people of color to enter politics. Jay Barth, co-author of Arkansas Politics and Government, believes that legacy continues.

Disapproval wind

Republican control of the governor’s mansion and both houses of the General Assembly is in place, with the Democratic Party having only 18 members in the House of Representatives and 6 in the Senate.

From her Capitol Hill office, Sarah Sanders can see the 10 Commandments in stone to her left. The contentious memorial is currently secured by bollards to slow motorists imitating Michael T. Reed. The Arkansas native hit the granite slab with his Dodge Dart in April 2017, breaking it.

In Reconstruction, the Democratic Party is trying to break the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly to influence budget and tax proposals.

Democratic strategist Austin Ross said he sees dislike of the Sanders administration, especially his vouchers, which favor private schools over public institutions. “These kinds of policies are motivating Arkansas Democrats in a way they haven’t been in a long time,” he says as he walks through Democratic Party headquarters, which is filled with campaign materials, including dozens of “Arkansas for Biden-Harris” posters that will be recycled.

The Arkansas ACLU is fighting the Sanders administration at the Capitol, in the press, in the courts, and in referenda. In a toxic political climate, the team is trying to “protect the pillars of American democracy”—freedom of religion, speech, and the press, as well as women’s reproductive and abortion rights, trans rights, and African-American rights.

“It used to be possible to disagree without denigrating the person you disagreed with,” says ACLU of Arkansas Director Holly Dickson. “Donald Trump is allowing people to say and do things they previously considered unacceptable. Since Sarah Sanders been Trump’s spokesman, things have changed. The governor brought that hostility home. It’s sad,” the activist says, before giving Le Devoir a mini-Constitution of the United States with a note on “what to do if you’re stopped by the police.”

Demon and conspiracies

Faith Radio has called Kamala Harris’ running mate, Democrat Tim Walz, a devil ally because he defends LGBTQ+ individuals.

Trump supporters’ Clinton conspiracy theories thrive in Little Rock. He and his wife don’t appeal to me. Richard Bogatch stands outside his gorgeous purple Little Rock home and says, “They did bad things.” He then discusses US human trafficking for sexual exploitation, repeating one of the wildest conspiracy claims of pre-COVID-19. The man moved from California to Arkansas to be near his kids. Sarah Sanders “does a lot to help people here,” he says.

Arkansas suits conservatives.

The William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum is holding teacher training to improve Arkansas’ “civic health”. “Anecdotal evidence shows that Arkansas is in very poor shape, whether it’s voter turnout, voter registration, or other indicators of successful democracy,” Barth adds. “We see it as our responsibility to use the resources at our disposal to revitalize civic health in Arkansas,” he says.

Le Devoir asks Arkansas’ 2024 Teacher of the Year, Beau McCastlain, on his students’ democracy worries, including a few aspiring journalists, after Sarah Sanders’ speech at her official residence. A civil servant snatches the man without warning and protects him from Le Devoir’s queries.

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