Jan Morgan officially enters Arkansas governor’s race on GOP ticket

Former exploratory candidate Jan Morgan said she will challenge Gov. Asa Hutchinson in the GOP primary in May. Morgan, a gun range owner and Second Amendment advocate, said she is formally entering the race in a New Year’s Eve event in Hot Springs, according to a press release.

“As we embark on the dawn of a new day and new year in Arkansas, I am excited about the future potential of our beautiful state and her people. I am excited because I have discovered the skeptics were wrong when they said the people of Arkansas are not educated on the issues in their state, and fall for the lies of their polished career politicians who are taxing them in to poverty, regulating them out of business and enslaving them with government entitlements. I know the skeptics are wrong,” she said.

“I know this because I’ve spent the past six months traveling across this state speaking with and more importantly listening to people from all walks of life. I have addressed record crowds as a speaker at Republican Party Reagan Dinners in county after county at the request of Republican Party chairmen. I have addressed TEA Party Patriots at the statewide convention and spoken to TEA Party groups large and small across Arkansas,” she added.

Morgan said she had ridden across the state on a motorcycle as part of her listening tour. She identified several planks of a platform for her candidacy including:

• “We must identify, expose, and replace politicians who ran as Republicans to get elected then once in office, began to legislate like democrats to please a progressive governor and his big corporate donors.”
• “We must demand roll call votes on all issues in House and Senate Judiciary. Legislators should not be allowed to hide behind group voice votes where there is no record of how they voted while representing their constituency. Transparency and accountability in our state government are not optional.”
• “The next step to recovery is to reduce the size of our state government. Republicans are supposed to be the party of limited government, yet, our current leadership has been busy over the past three years feeding the government beast and expanding it in size with our tax dollars.”
• “The corporate tax rate is also the second highest among Arkansas’s competitor states. That giant sucking sound you hear is Texas, Tennessee and Florida sucking our jobs, companies, college graduates, and affluent citizens out of our state. No wonder the governor has to go to China and offer millions of dollars, tax breaks, and job training money to get foreigners to open companies here. (Imagine what Arkansas business owners could do with that kind of government help).”

Morgan said she would eliminate the Quick Action Closing Fund, which is used for economic incentives; would do nothing from a government perspective to the state’s healthcare system, except get “government out”; address crime issues in the capital city; support open carry legal recognition; reduce government in public schools and promote competition and vocational training; and advance town halls around the state, if elected.

“I am committed to fight for you, but I can only do so much from the position of citizen activist. If you want me to be your voice, I need a better position to fight from. Strategically speaking, that would be the governors seat,” she said. “I’m Jan Morgan, a born again Christian, a genetically conservative wife, mother, small business owner, certified firearms instructor and yes, like our Vice President of the United States, I ride a Harley!”

Gov. Hutchinson announced his re-election bid earlier this year. He was first elected to the post in November 2014. Other candidates for Arkansas governor include Democrat Jared Henderson and Libertarian candidate Mark West.