Robert F. Thompson (born June 19, 1971) is a former Democratic 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 ...

. He represented the 11th District of Arkansas from 2007 to 2013. After senate districts were reorganized, he went on to represent District 20 from 2013 to 2015. Both districts included several counties in northeast

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 ...

. From 2005 to 2007, he was a State Representative for the 78th district of the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...

, representing the city of Paragould in Greene County,

. Thompson currently practices law at the Paragould law firm of Branch, Thompson, Warmath, & Dale P.A.

Biography

Thompson is a native of Paragould. Born at Community Methodist Hospital in

Paragould, Arkansas Paragould is a city in and the county seat of Greene County, Arkansas, Greene County, and the 19th-largest city in Arkansas, in the United States. The city is located in northeastern Arkansas on the eastern edge of Crowley's Ridge, a geologic anom ...

on June 19, 1971, he was reared in Paragould and attended Paragould public schools. He attended

Hendrix College Hendrix College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas. Approximately 1,000 students are enrolled, mostly undergraduates. While affiliated with the United Methodist Chu ...

Conway Conway may refer to: Places United States * Conway, Arkansas * Conway County, Arkansas * Lake Conway, Arkansas * Conway, Florida * Conway, Iowa * Conway, Kansas * Conway, Louisiana * Conway, Massachusetts * Conway, Michigan * Conway Townshi ...

, Arkansas, graduating

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

in 1993 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in history. Following college, Thompson attended the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on a Rotary Foundation Scholarship. He graduated from the

University of Arkansas School of Law The University of Arkansas School of Law is the law school of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a State university system, state university. It has around 445 students enrolled in its Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Law (LL.M ...

in 1997. In law school, he served as editor-in-chief of the Arkansas Law Review and graduated first in his class . From 1997 to 1998, Thompson served as a law clerk to Chief Judge

Richard S. Arnold Richard Sheppard Arnold (March 26, 1936 – September 23, 2004) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas and the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansa ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (in case citations, 8th Cir.) is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts: * Eastern District of Arkansas * Western ...

. Later, as a member of the

, following the death of Judge Arnold in September 2004, Thompson was a sponsor of a House Resolution celebrating the life of Judge Arnold and his contributions to the American legal system. Thompson has been awarded two honors by the

Arkansas Historical Association The Arkansas Historical Association is a historical society based at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The association has hosted an annual conference on Arkansas history at varying locations throughout the state since 1946. ...

for his writings about Arkansas history. In 1993 he won the Lucille Westbrook Award for an essay about debt slavery in Arkansas in the 1930s. In 1998, he won the Violet Gingles Award for his short biography of the Arkansas legislator Paul Van Dalsem. In 2008 Thompson was named as one of 24 fellows in the 2008 class of the Aspen Institute's Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership. Thompson is married to the former Tori Gibson of

Osceola Osceola (1804 – January 30, 1838, Vsse Yvholv in Muscogee language, Creek, also spelled Asi-yahola), named Billy Powell at birth, was an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfa ...

, Arkansas. They have two sons and a daughter. He is an active member of the First

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

of Paragould.

Political career

In November 2004, Thompson was elected to the

, District 78, which includes the city of Paragould. As a member of the House, he sat on the House Judiciary Committee, the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs, and the Joint Public Retirement Committee. During the 2005 legislative session, Thompson sponsored bills that created a Drug Court for Greene County, strengthened laws on prosecuting sexual offenders, and addressed financial problems of recently consolidated school districts. In June 2004 he was one of Arkansas Business's "40 Under 40" up-and-coming young leaders. In December 2004, he was selected as NEA Business Today's 25 Outstanding Young Professionals in northeast Arkansas. In May 2005, Thompson was named one of five "promising legislative newcomers" by the

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas's counties. By virtue of one ...

. In 2006, Thompson ran for the District 11 state senate seat being vacated by State Senator Tim Wooldridge, who was forced out of office due to

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 ...

. On May 23, Thompson defeated Paragould resident and former state representative

Gary Biggs Gary Biggs (born 1977) is a former hurler from Northern Ireland, who played as a left-wing forward at senior level for the Derry county team. Biggs joined the panel during the 1997 championship and immediately became a regular member of the ...

in the Democratic

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

for the District 11 seat. As the Democratic nominee in the general election, Thompson defeated Republican Lloyd Clark in a landslide, 72.36% to 27.64%. Thompson was the Majority Leader of the Senate prior to the Republican takeover in 2013. He was defeated in a rematch with Republican Blake Johnson of Corning (Clay County) in the 2014 General election. Thompson had defeated Johnson by less than 600 votes in 2012. In the senate, Thompson served as vice-chair of the Legislative Council, the committee that oversees legislative operations when the Arkansas legislature is not in session. Thompson was also a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs, and the Senate Efficiency Committee, which administers the internal operations of the Arkansas Senate.

Bibliography

* "The Strange Case of Paul D. Peacher, Twentieth-Century Slaveholder." Arkansas Historical Quarterly 52:4 (Winter 1993): 426-451. * "McKennon v. Nashville Banner Publishing Co.: The Masquerading Doctor, the 'Greatest Treason,' and After-Acquired Evidence in Employment Discrimination Suits." Arkansas Law Review 49:3 (1996): 625-660. * "The Arkansas Products Liability Statute: What Does 'Unreasonably Dangerous' Mean in Arkansas?" Arkansas Law Review 50:4 (1998): 663-690. * "Barefoot and Pregnant: The Education of Paul Van Dalsem." Arkansas Historical Quarterly 57:4 (Winter 1998): 377-407.

References

External links

Official government websiteProject Vote Smart - Senator Robert Thompson III (AR)
profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Robert F. 1971 births Living people Democratic Party Arkansas state senators Democratic Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Arkansas General Assembly Arkansas lawyers Alumni of the University of St Andrews University of Arkansas alumni American United Methodists