page_title: Asa Hutchinson
section_title: Tenure
hierarchical_section_title: Asa Hutchinson / Governor of Arkansas / Tenure
caption_attribution_description: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue is greeted by Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson before touring the flood damage in Northeast Arkansas May 7, 2017. USDA photo by Michawn Rich
context_page_description: William Asa Hutchinson II is an American businessman, attorney, and politician, serving since 2015 as the 46th governor of Arkansas. Previously he was U.S. Attorney for the Fort Smith-based Western District of Arkansas, U.S. Congressman from the Third District of Arkansas, Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the first Undersecretary for Border & Transportation Security at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
  In 2006, Hutchinson was the Republican nominee for governor of Arkansas, but was defeated by Democratic nominee Mike Beebe, the outgoing state attorney general. In 2014, Hutchinson was again the Republican nominee for governor, this time winning the election by defeating Democratic U.S. Representative Mike Ross. He was reelected in 2018 with nearly two-thirds of the vote.
context_section_description: Hutchinson assumed office as governor on January 13, 2015.
  On November 16, 2015, the governor said that he would block all Syrian refugees from entering the state in response to the November 2015 Paris attacks.
  Meeting with stays from the court system, Hutchinson approved a condensed schedule for the execution of eight men in eleven days because the expiration date of his state's supply of one of the drugs used in Arkansas's lethal cocktail, midazolam, was the end of April 2017. Arkansas had not executed any prisoners since 2005.
  As Governor, Hutchinson implemented work requirements for Medicaid enrollees. As a result, by December 2018, almost 17,000 Arkansans had lost their Medicaid health insurance, with reapplication available in the new calendar year.
  In February 2019, Hutchinson signed a bill into law that would criminalize abortion in the event Roe v. Wade is overturned.
caption: Hutchinson greeting Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue in 2017
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