Cook: GOP Virginia Voters Now Running For Arkansas Statewide Office

The three major statewide nominees for the Arkansas Republic Party have one odd trait in common that probably has never happened before in our state’s history.

At some point in the past decade, the GOP nominees for Governor, U.S. Senate and Attorney General were all registered voters in Virginia and living in D.C.’s suburbs.

This is a messaging problem for Arkansas Republicans as Democrats can use this factoid as another way to show these GOP candidates are just out-of-touch D.C. politicians out-of-step with Arkansas values.

Here’s the rundown on the past Virginia voter registration status of Asa Hutchinson, Tom Cotton and Leslie Rutledge.

Virginia Voter Asa Hutchinson
Asa Hutchinson purchased a home in Springfield, Virginia, a D.C. suburb, in October of 2002 and moved his voter registration to that state. Hutchinson served as a well-paid lobbyist during his time in D.C. He remained a registered voter in Virginia until March of 2005 when he moved his voter registration to Pulaski County. Nineteen months after moving back to Arkansas, Hutchinson was crushed by now-Governor Mike Beebe in the 2006 gubernatorial election.

Virginia Voter Tom Cotton
Tom Cotton became a registered in Virginia in September of 2003. Cotton didn’t join the military until January of 2005, so his Virginia voter registration was unrelated to his military service.  Prior to his Virginia move, Cotton was registered to vote in Houston in 2002 where he worked for a time. Cotton eventually moved his voter registration to his father’s Yell County home in late spring of 2005.

Virginia Voter Leslie Rutledge
Leslie Rutledge was a political operative in Washington, D.C. for many years and registered to vote in Virginia, voting in the 2010 and 2012 elections in that state.

I believe this is first time the Arkansas Republic Party nominated candidates for statewide office with such an extensive history of being registered to vote in the areas right outside of D.C. It’s difficult for a candidate to prove they’ve got deep Arkansas roots when they were registered to vote in another state just a short while ago.