Russell Davis Carter, known as Davy Carter (born March 31, 1975), is the Republican former

Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives The Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives is the speaker (presiding officer) of the Arkansas House of Representatives, the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly. They serve as the leader and head of the Arkansas House, and can ...

, a position which he held from 2013 to 2015. A resident of

Cabot Cabot may refer to: Businesses * Cabot Corporation, an American chemicals company * Cabot Creamery, an American dairy cooperative Fictional characters * Alexandra Cabot, in the ''Law & Order'' universe * Leigh Cabot, from Stephen King's 1983 no ...

in Lonoke County, Carter represented District 43 from 2009 to 2015. Because of

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential ...

, he was ineligible to seek reelection in 2014 and was succeeded by fellow Cabot Republican,

Tim Lemons Timothy Boyd Lemons, known as Tim Lemons (born 1962) is a self-employed civil engineer from Cabot, Arkansas, who was a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives for District 43 in Lonoke County from 2015 to 2019. He was elected ...

, a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

. However, the term limits were modified in 2014, and Carter's successor as Speaker,

Jeremy Gillam Jeremy Gillam (born August 2, 1976) is an American politician and lobbyist. A Republican, he was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives before resigning to work for the University of Central Arkansas. He serves as the university's Dire ...

, continued for a second term as the presiding officer in Gillam's fourth term in the House.

Personal life

Carter graduated from

Arkansas State University Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Jonesboro, Arkansas Jonesboro is a city located on Crowley's Ridge in the northeastern corner of the U.S. State of Arkansas. Jonesboro is one of two county seats of Craighead County. According to the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 78,576 and is the ...

, the

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

School of Banking in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of countie ...

, and the

William H. Bowen School of Law The UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law is a public law school, part of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock). The school is both American Bar Association (ABA) accredited and a member of the Association of American ...

at the

University of Arkansas at Little Rock The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock) is a Public university, public research university in Little Rock, Arkansas. Established as Little Rock Junior College by the Little Rock School District in 1927, the institution became ...

. He serves as CEO of Jonesboro Community Bank, a subsidiary of Home BancShares Inc. of Conway, which was formed as a result of the merger of Centennial Bank and Liberty Bank of Arkansas.

Political career

Tenure in the Arkansas House of Representatives

Carter ran for and was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2008 to represent the

area of Lonoke County. He beat an intraparty rival in the Republican primary and was unopposed in the November election. He was selected to be Chairman of the Revenue and Taxation Committee during his second term and he served as Speaker of the House from 2013 to 2015. In the Republican primary held on May 20, 2014,

succeeded Carter.

Chairman of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee

Carter served as Chairman of the Revenue and Taxation Committee during his second term. As Chairman, he held hearings to start the discussion of tax reform in Arkansas, during which he advocated for lower tax rates on families and businesses. “A working-class family with an annual income in the low $30,000 range is in the highest marginal tax bracket in Arkansas, even though that family’s income exceeds the federal poverty level by only $10,000 or so,” Carter said. “This needs to be addressed along with other tax ‘loopholes’ and how competitive we are with our surrounding states. Essentially, I’d like to see a broader base with lower rates across the board.”

Speaker of the House

Carter is the first Republican Speaker since Reconstruction. He won on a secret vote of fifty-two to forty-five against a more moderate fellow Republican, Terry Rice of Waldron in Scott County. Carter received a score of 89 from the

Advance Arkansas Institute The Advance Arkansas Institute (AAI) is a free market think tank located in Little Rock, Arkansas. The organization's stated mission is "to advance public policy based on free markets, individual liberty, and limited, transparent government." The ...

on issues of smaller government, individual freedom and lower taxes, ranking among the 10 most conservative members of the House. Carter depended on bipartisan support to win because his party controls only fifty-one of the one hundred House seats. Carter was known for his good working relationship with former Democratic

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Mike Beebe Mickey Dale Beebe ( ; born December 28, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 45th governor of Arkansas from 2007 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Born in Amagon, Arkansas, Beebe is a graduate of Arkans ...

and had been mentioned as a Republican candidate to succeed Beebe in 2014. However, he declined to run for governor and instead endorsed the party's unsuccessful 2006 nominee for the post, former U.S. Representative

Asa Hutchinson William Asa Hutchinson II (, '' AY-sə''; born December 3, 1950) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who is the 46th and current governor of Arkansas. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. attorney for the Fort Smit ...

, who is also a former

United States Secretary of Homeland Security The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the U ...

. Hutchinson lost to Beebe by a wide margin in a heavily Democratic year but rebounded to win the governorship in 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Davy 1975 births American bankers Arkansas lawyers Republican Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives Arkansas State University alumni Baptists from Arkansas Lawyers from Little Rock, Arkansas Living people Louisiana State University alumni People from Cabot, Arkansas Politicians from Little Rock, Arkansas Speakers of the Arkansas House of Representatives William H. Bowen School of Law alumni