Davy Carter
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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 in Lonoke County, Carter represented District 43 from 2009 to 2015. Because of
term limits A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of Term of office, terms a Incumbent, person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in Presidential system, presidential and Semi-presidential republic, semi-president ...
, he was ineligible to seek reelection in 2014 and was succeeded by fellow Cabot Republican, Tim Lemons, 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 Dir ...
, 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 State University (A-State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. It is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System and the second-largest university in the st ...
at
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, Arkansas, Craighead County. In 2023, the city had an estimated population of ...
, the
Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...
School of Banking in
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, and the William H. Bowen School of Law at the
University of Arkansas at Little Rock The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock, UALR) is a Public university, public research university in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. Established as Little Rock Junior College by the Little Rock School District in 1927, the ...
. 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 Cabot 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, Tim Lemons 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 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 ...
. 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 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 politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Mike Beebe Mickey Dale Beebe (; born December 28, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the List of governors of Arkansas, 45th governor of Arkansas from 2007 to 2015. He is to date the last Democrat to hold that office. Born in Amagon ...
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 The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
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 ...
, who is also a former
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. 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 21st-century members of the Arkansas General Assembly 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