Education, presidential election, “retail policy” influence Arkansas House District 62 rematch • Arkansas Advocate

Demographics and voter turnout

Former Rep. David Tollett, R-Marvell, served one term in the House after running unopposed in 2020. McElroy defeated Tollett in the 2022 GOP primary after both were drawn into District 62 due to redistricting, the redrawing of legislative district boundaries every decade after the U.S. Census.

McElroy’s victory in the general election made him the first Republican to win a competitive race to represent Phillips and Lee counties in the Legislature since Reconstruction.

Miller’s decision to challenge McElroy again means the race could still be competitive despite the differences between the last election cycle and this one, Rawls said.

“Signs have been popping up everywhere, mailings are being sent out, phone banks have started, so I think both parties know this is going to be a close race,” he said.

The Delta’s majority black population has historically voted Democratic. Smith said the fact that a Black woman, Vice President Kamala Harris, is at the forefront of this year’s Democratic presidential nomination should attract District 62’s Black voters to the polls.

“The last time there was a really big voter turnout was when President Obama was at the top of the ticket [in 2008]said Smith. “This was a historic election and this is a historic election. But of course [GOP nominee] Donald Trump also has his base, so I think you’ll have a high turnout.”

Rawls agreed that voter turnout in the presidential election could impact the District 62 election, but also said voters may support candidates from different parties.

“I think there will be people who vote for Kamala Harris and [her running mate] Tim Walz, who also supports McElroy,” Rawls said.

Smith said it is unlikely that anyone who fills out the presidential portion of the ballot will skip the District 62 rematch. He added that McElroy’s personal campaign strategy represents a challenge to any benefits the presidential race could bring to Miller.

“On paper it looks like it’s a slam dunk for Democrats, but it’s not,” Smith said.

Training

Representing the Marvell-Elaine School District, which had 306 students in 2023, McElroy sponsored Law 543 of 2023. The law Exceptions created to the Public Education Reorganization Act of 2004, which required the consolidation of schools that had fewer than 350 students for two consecutive years. Law 461 of 2023 Mandatory consolidation was abolished.

“If he hadn’t passed this bill, the school would be empty right now… I think that’s something he should definitely champion and the voters of Marvell will remember that,” said Rawls, a Phillips County justice of the peace , who represents Marvell.

Also Marvell-Elaine became the state’s first transformational campus last year, under a LEARNS Act Provision that allows difficult schools to enter one “Transformation contract” at an open enrollment public charter school or other accredited institution.

According to McElroy, Smith and Rawls, McElroy’s support of both Act 543 and the LEARNS Act earned him goodwill with the community.

Miller acknowledged that the conversion agreement could be a good thing for the district and the state.

“They definitely need to try something different and new, and this could be a model for the future for schools that may be struggling,” he said.

The LEARNS Act also raised the minimum teacher salary to $50,000 per year, which Miller said he supported.

Phillips County has a teacher shortage and those who are there may not have reached $50,000 salaries in their entire careers, Rawls said, so the raises have helped the region recruit and retain teachers.

Critics of some aspects of the sweeping LEARNS Act, including Miller, said the state should not direct taxpayer money to private schools under the voucher program also created by the law.

Phillips County has two private schools, but neither participates in the program.

McElroy said he supports giving parents a choice about where their children go to school, especially those who live in a district with “failing schools.”

Miller said he was frustrated when McElroy’s campaign sent out a flyer criticizing his views on school vouchers, particularly because Miller and his wife had both worked for public schools in Helena-West Helena.

“When you put out a flyer with something so hard, [saying] that I want to keep kids in failing schools — of course we care about kids and of course we care about education,” Miller said.

“Someone they can identify with”

Last year’s education legislation was an exception to the fact that many District 62 residents aren’t necessarily up to date on the intricacies of state policy, McElroy and Miller said. Instead, they worry about things that directly affect their daily lives, such as the quality of roads and drinking water.

Helena-West Helena’s aging water infrastructure caused outages in June 2023 and January 2024. In late July, the state health department gave city officials 90 days to create a long-term plan to address the problems, including specific infrastructure improvements.

Plan or Punish: The next step in the city of Arkansas’ journey to better water infrastructure

McElroy said he was “instrumental” in securing an $11 million loan from the Arkansas Division of Natural Resources this year to address some infrastructure needs. He also said he and other lawmakers want to focus on funding more water projects.

Over the course of his career as a representative, McElroy changed his party affiliation from the Democratic to the Independent to the Republican Party. He said he believes voters know him primarily as someone who represents them, rather than someone associated with a partisan label.

“I think the vast majority of people really just want someone they can relate to,” McElroy said. “Many of them are more independent voters [rather] than both parties, and I think they understand that because they know I’m approachable when they see me on the side of the road looking pathetic in the sun.”

In September, a Marvell voter shared a picture on Facebook of McElroy campaigning in a storm and said he “won’t let a little rain stop him.”

Meanwhile, Miller said McElroy has not been an effective legislator and was not sufficiently present during the Helena-West Helena water crisis in January.

“He spends more time on the sidewalk, riding his bike and waving his sign than he does in the Capitol, where he has a supermajority,” Miller said.

Miller is putting more work into this year’s campaign than in 2022, Smith said, but McElroy’s “retail politics” approach goes far.

“In some ways it’s definitely Dexter’s race to lose, but I would say you should never discount Mark McElroy because he’s campaigning so hard,” Smith said.