Bart Franklin Hester (born December 9, 1977) is an American politician serving as a member of the

Arkansas Senate The Arkansas State Senate is the upper branch of the Arkansas General Assembly. The Senate consists of 35 members, each representing a district with about 83,000 people. Service in the state legislature is part-time, and many state senators have ...

from the 33rd district and a Republican. A real estate agent and former baseball player, has served since 2013, and was nominated president pro tempore of the Senate for the 94th Arkansas General Assembly.

Early life and education

A native of

Conway, Arkansas Conway is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Faulkner County, Arkansas, Faulkner County, located in the state's most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area, Central Arkansas. The city also serves as a regional shopping, ...

, Hester graduated from Green Forest High School and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business management from the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

. For three years, Hester played on the Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team.

Career

Since 2005, Hester has worked as a real estate agent. He was elected to the

in November 2012 and assumed office on January 14, 2013. From 2013 to 2015, Hester served as vice chair of the House Children and Youth Committee. During the 2017 legislative session, he served as chair of the House Public Retirement and Social Security Programs Committee. Since 2021, Hester has served as chair of the House Senate Efficiency Committee. Hester has also served as majority leader of the Senate. In 2022, Hester was chosen as President Pro Tempore for the 2023 session. On May 1st, 2024, Hester accused former Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Chris Jones of taking a “Pro Hamas Terrorist” position. Jones is currently suing Hester for defamation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hester, Bart 1977 births Living people People from Benton County, Arkansas People from Cave Springs, Arkansas Politicians from Conway, Arkansas People from Faulkner County, Arkansas Republican Party Arkansas state senators University of Arkansas alumni 21st-century members of the Arkansas General Assembly