Arkansas

**Arkansas** is a state in the south-central region of the United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma to the west. It is a *safe Republican* state and carries **six electoral votes**.

## Politics

### State House

The Arkansas State House is composed of 100 members, each directly elected from a state house district. Members serve terms of 2 years. Elections to all Arkansas State House seats occur during each even-numbered year.

The Arkansas House is charged with the passage of state legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the governor for consideration. Any House member may draft bills, which will then be assigned to the relevant House committee at the beginning of the next week. The number of bills any individual member may draft is unlimited; however, each bill requires 25 hours to draft.

There is a committee system in the Arkansas House. Committees hold specialized hearings on relevant bills. A House member must serve on at least 1 and at most 2 committees. If the member has a sufficient number of political points, they may choose to serve as the ranking member of their political party on at most 1 of their chosen committees.

Playable subcommittees include Appropriations; Tax and Fiscal Policy; Education; Health Care; Transportation, Infrastructure, Housing and Community Development; Judiciary, Public Safety, and Corrections; Commerce, Labor, and Career Development; Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources; Human Services.

Non-playable subcommittees include Agriculture; Elections and General Government; Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security; Ethics.

A committee chair is the ranking member of the House's majority party within that committee. Above all other members of the Arkansas House, a committee chair has the right of the first review over any draft bill that falls within the purview of the committee. The committee chair may grant or refuse a hearing. If the committee chair refuses to grant a hearing on a bill, that bill can no longer advance. This is true even if the bill already passed through the Senate.

Once a bill is granted a committee hearing, all ranking and regular members on the committee have the right to offer amendments and have those amendments voted on. A tie or majority vote leads to the adoption of an amendment. After the amendment process is complete, a final committee vote is held. A tie or majority vote allows the bill to advance to the floor of the full House. The entire committee phase takes one week.

When a bill reaches the House floor, a hearing is held. Any member of the House may offer amendments, which are immediately voted on. When the amendment process is complete, a final floor vote is held. Upon passage by the House, a bill is sent either: (a) to the Senate, (b) to the governor, or (c) to conference report. The House floor phase takes one week.

If the House considers a Senate-approved bill but then passes an amended version, the bill must be sent for a conference report to adjust any discrepancies between the House and Senate versions. After that, both chambers must hold a floor vote on whether to approve the conference report.

#### State House Districts

In default mode (11/22/2020), the State House district configuration highly favors the Republican Party. 75 out of 100 districts lean Republican by more than 10%. Two other districts lean Republican by more than 5%. Seventeen districts lean Democratic by more than 10% and 6 more leans Democratic by 1%. Under this configuration, a neutral election year leads to an average party breakdown of 77R-23D and 0 tossups. The median district leans Republican by 22%. To win party control of the Arkansas Senate, the Democratic Party would have to win at least 26 seats that lean Republican by 10% or more.

### State Senate

The Arkansas State Senate is composed of 34 members (35 IRL), each directly elected from a district. Members serve terms of 4 years. Elections to the Arkansas Senate are not staggered. Elections to all seats occur in the same year as U.S. presidential elections.

The Arkansas Senate is charged with the passage of state legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the governor for consideration. Any House member may draft bills, which will then be assigned to the relevant House committee at the beginning of the next week. The number of bills any individual member may draft is unlimited; however, each bill requires 25 hours to draft.

There is a committee system in the Arkansas Senate. Committees hold specialized hearings on relevant bills. A House member must serve on at least 1 and at most 4 committees. If the member has a sufficient number of political points, they may choose to serve as the ranking member of their political party on at most 1 of their chosen committees.

Playable subcommittees include Appropriations; Tax and Fiscal Policy; Education; Health Care; Transportation, Infrastructure, Housing and Community Development; Judiciary, Public Safety, and Corrections; Commerce, Labor, and Career Development; Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources; Human Services.

Non-playable subcommittees include Agriculture; Elections and General Government; Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security; Ethics.

A committee chair is the ranking member of the Senate's majority party within that committee. Above all other members of the Arkansas Senate, a committee chair has the right of the first review over any draft bill that falls within the purview of the committee. The committee chair may grant or refuse a hearing. If the committee chair refuses to grant a hearing on a bill, that bill can no longer advance. This is true even if the bill already passed through the Senate.

Once a bill is granted a committee hearing, all ranking and regular members on the committee have the right to offer amendments and have those amendments voted on. A tie or majority vote leads to the adoption of an amendment. After the amendment process is complete, a final committee vote is held. A tie or majority vote allows the bill to advance to the floor of the full Senate. The entire committee phase takes one week.

When a bill reaches the House floor, a hearing is held. Any member of the House may offer amendments, which are immediately voted on. When the amendment process is complete, a final floor vote is held. Upon passage by the House, a bill is sent either: (a) to the House, (b) to the governor, or (c) to conference report. The House floor phase takes one week.

If the Senate considers a House-approved bill but then passes an amended version, the bill must be sent for a conference report to adjust any discrepancies between the House and Senate versions. After that, both chambers must hold a floor vote on whether to approve the conference report.

#### State Senate Districts

In default mode (11/22/2020), the State Senate district configuration highly favors the Republican Party. 24 out of 34 districts lean Republican by more than 10%. Two other districts lean Republican by more than 5%. Six districts lean Democratic by more than 10%. Under this configuration, a neutral election year leads to an average party breakdown of 27R-6D and 1 tossups. The median district leans Republican by 22%. To win party control of the Arkansas Senate, the Democratic Party would have to win at least nine seats that lean Republican by 10% or more.

### Governor

The governor of Arkansas is directly elected to terms of 4 years. Elections to the governorship are held in even years opposite to U.S. presidential elections. The governor may sign into law or veto any state bill that has passed through both houses of the state legislature. The governor may also draft legislation and send it to the state legislature for consideration. Draft bills from the governor almost always begin in the House and have to withstand the regular committee process.

## U.S. Representatives

 AR-2
 AR-3
 AR-4

## Counties

Below is a table of counties in Arkansas, included with population, party registration and poverty rates.