First District Democrat Jackie McPherson Touts Bipartisan Credentials

Jackie McPherson is a blue-collar, conservative Democrat and he says he’s running for Congress to work across party aisles.

The Democratic nominee challenging incumbent GOP First District Cong. Rick Crawford was the speaker at Friday’s Northeast Arkansas Political Animals Club meeting in Jonesboro.

“The biggest distinction is my ability to get things done,” McPherson said. “Crawford voted 98% of the time down the party line. He’s shown that he’s completely ineffective working across the aisle… He does what the party tells him instead of what’s right for his district.”

The long-time mayor of Heber Springs, McPherson says running out of a “hill county” in the First Congressional District isn’t the same as running from the flatlands of the Delta, but he’s convinced he can connect with the diverse voters in the district nonetheless.

“My parents both were farmers,” he said. “My mother and father both grew up on a cotton farm,” he said. “But there’s so much more to the district than just farming.

McPherson, a former factory worker and restauranteur, has a solid decade of accomplishment as Heber Springs mayor. He also doesn’t have the baggage of Congressional votes, which liberates his positions on several controversial federal issues.

Fielding questions from an audience of Republican and Democratic politicos, here are some stands McPherson outlined in his appearance on Friday (April 25):

• McPherson says he would not support Nancy Pelosi for House Speaker, if elected to Congress.
• He says working to fix Obamacare is the only option he sees as a Congressman. A path to repeal “doesn’t exist” as long as Pres. Obama remains in office and has veto authority.
• McPherson says he would not have voted for Obamacare and would have fought it if he was in Congress.

His biggest beef with Crawford centers on the contentious Farm Bill votes of 2013.

McPherson said that separating the nutrition program from the Farm Bill was a bad idea because keeping them together is the only way to build consensus between rural and urban lawmakers on agri issues. He noted the requests of many farming groups who he said pleaded for the bill to remain intact

“That’s not someone who is in touch with his district,” McPherson said.

Crawford voted for measures that kept the Farm Bill intact and a bill that decoupled the nutrition and agri programs. Eventually, Crawford served on a conference committee that cobbled together a compromise keeping the myriad programs intact.

McPherson says he is going to publicly endorse raising the state minimum wage soon. An effort to raise that wage to $8.50 per hour during the next three years is seeking to gain ballot access for voter consideration. McPherson said he does not support raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour.

You can listen to a short radio interview with him here.