According to filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission, Democrat Chris Jones intends to defeat Republican Representative French Hill in 2026.
Jones, the Democratic candidate for governor of Arkansas in 2022, submitted a statement of candidacy to the FEC on July 21 for the Arkansas 2nd Congressional District, which includes all of Saline, Faulkner, Perry, Van Buren, Cleburne, and White counties in addition to the majority of Pulaski County.
In 2022, Arkansas reorganized its congressional districts, dividing the state’s most populated city, Little Rock, among several districts. Although the Gerrymandering Project at Princeton University has assigned Arkansas a C letter grade and stated that its districts offer Republicans an edge, a panel of three federal judges dismissed a complaint in June that contested the new congressional map and made allegations of gerrymandering.
Since 2015, Hill has maintained a firm hold on the district, defeating several Democratic opponents. Over the past ten years, a number of candidates, including former state legislator Joyce Elliott, retired army Col. Marcus Jones, Arkansas Senator Clarke Tucker, and others, have attempted and failed to unseat him. The Democrats, who have long been losers in a state they once controlled, have not found it any easier with the 2022 redistricting.
Jones has not yet officially announced his candidacy. Although he hasn’t ran for office since opposing Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2022, he has remained involved in politics, co-chairing the national political action organization Dirt Road Democrats and running for vice chair of the Democratic National organization earlier this year.
It’s dragon-slaying time!
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