The Republican Party of Arkansas (RPA), headquartered at 1201 West 6th Street in downtown

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

, is the affiliate of the Republican Party in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling all four of Arkansas' U.S. House seats, both U.S. Senate seats, all statewide executive offices, including the governorship, and supermajorities in both houses of the state legislature. The Republican Party of Arkansas was founded on April 2, 1867, by "the leading Union men" of Arkansas. Under Powell Clayton, it played a preeminent role in politics at the height of

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

in the state (1864–1874). The party chairman is Joseph K. Wood.

History

The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP (Grand Old Party), is the second oldest currently existing political party in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

after its older rival, the Democratic Party. Both parties exist in all fifty states. Historically, prior to the late 20th century, the Republican Party was much weaker than the Democratic Party in the former states of the old Confederacy, including

. The Arkansas party did not hire its first paid executive director until 1970, when businessman Neal Sox Johnson, then of Nashville, Arkansas, assumed the position in the last year of Winthrop Rockefeller's second term as

governor of Arkansas The governor of Arkansas is the head of government of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Governor (United States), governor is the head of the Executive (government), executive branch of the Politics and government of Arkansas, Arkansas government a ...

. Johnson held the position until early in 1973, when he left Arkansas to take a position with the former Farmers Home Administration in Washington. Between 2010 and 2014, similar to what took place in neighboring Oklahoma, Arkansas Republicans won all four U.S. House seats, both U.S. Senate seats, all of the statewide offices, and supermajority control of both chambers of the General Assembly.

Associated groups

There are six groups and these groups are: Arkansas Diversity Alliances Coalition, African American Coalition of Arkansas, Arkansas African American Trailblazers, Arkansas Federation of College Republicans, Arkansas Federation of Young Republicans, Arkansas Federation of Republican Women, and the Arkansas Federation of Teenage Republicans. The Tusk Club is another arm of the Arkansas Republican Party.

Republican governors

As of 2023, there have been a total of eight Republican governors.

Current elected officials

The Arkansas Republican Party controls all of the state's seven statewide offices. Republicans also hold both of the state's U.S. Senate seats and all four of the state's U.S. House seats.

Members of Congress

U.S. Senate

Republicans have controlled both of Arkansas's seats in the U.S. Senate since

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: File:Tom Cotton official Senate photo.jpg, Junior U.S. Senator File:Senator John Boozman Official Portrait (115th Congress).jpg, Senior U.S. Senator

U.S. House of Representatives

Out of the four seats Arkansas is apportioned in the U.S. House of Representatives, all four are held by Republicans:

Statewide offices

Republicans control all seven of the elected statewide constitutional offices: File:Leslie Rutledge (25475720912) (1).jpg,

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

File:Rep Tim Griffin Official Photo (cropped).jpg,

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

* Secretary of State: Cole Jester *

State Auditor State auditors (also known as state comptrollers, state controllers, or state examiners, among others) are fiscal officers lodged in the executive or legislative branches of U.S. state governments who serve as external auditors, program eval ...

: Dennis Milligan *

State Treasurer In the state and territorial governments of the United States, 54 of the 56 states and territories have the executive position of treasurer. New York abolished the office of New York State Treasurer in 1926, in which the duties were transfer ...

: John Thurston * Commissioner of State Lands: Tommy Land

State legislative leaders

* Senate President Pro Tempore: Bart Hester ** Senate Majority Leader: Blake Johnson * Speaker of the House: Matthew Shepherd ** Speaker Pro Tempore: Jon Eubanks ** House Majority Leader: Marcus Richmond

List of chairmen

This is a list of chairmen of the Republican Party of Arkansas:Coon, Ken, Dr. Heroes and Heroines of the Journey: The Builders of the Modern Republican Party of Arkansas. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. * 1932–1955: Osro Cobb * 1955–1962: Ben C. Henley * 1962–1964: William L. Spicer * 1964–1966: John P. Hammerschmidt * 1966–1970: Odell Pollard * 1970–1972: Charles T. Bernard * 1972–1974: Jim Caldwell * 1974–1980: A. Lynn Lowe * 1980: Jeraldine D. Pruden ( interim) * 1980–1982: Harlan Holleman * 1982: Bob Cohee (interim) * 1982–1983: Morris S. Arnold * 1983–1984: Bob Leslie * 1984–1985: William Kelly * 1985: Sharon Trusty (interim) * 1985–1986: Len E. Blaylock * 1986–1988: Ed Bethune * 1988–1990: Dr. Ken Coon (Also serving as Executive Director) * 1991–1992:

Asa Hutchinson William Asa Hutchinson II (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, AY-sə''; born December 3, 1950) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 46th governor of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Part ...

(co-chairman) * 1991–1992:

Sheffield Nelson Edward Sheffield Nelson (born April 23, 1941) is an American attorney, businessman and politician from the capital city of Little Rock, Arkansas. Originally a Democrat, Nelson in 1990 ran for governor of Arkansas as a Republican against then g ...

(co-chairman) * 1992–1995: Asa Hutchinson * 1995–2002: Lloyd Vance Stone Jr. * 2002–2003: John P. Hammerschmidt * 2003–2004: Winthrop P. Rockefeller * 2004–2007: Gilbert Baker * 2007–2008: Dennis Milligan * 2008–2020: Doyle Webb * 2020–2022: Jonelle Fulmer * 2022–2023: Cody Hiland * 2023: John Parke * 2023-Current: Joseph Wood

Electoral history

Gubernatorial

References

Notes

Citations

External links

* * {{Coord, 34, 44, 41.1, N, 92, 17, 04.7, W, region:US-AR_type:adm1st_scale:3000000, display=title 1867 establishments in Arkansas Non-profit organizations based in Little Rock, Arkansas Political parties in Arkansas Political parties established in 1867 Reconstruction Era