Monday, November 7, 2022

Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the church-going, duck-hunting, football-coaching, hog-calling radical left

It's the longest of long shot races (the polls have him around 38%), but preacher/rocket scientist Chris Jones is running one hell of a campaign back in my home state of Arkansas. He's out in every county, shaking hands and talking to reporters in sharp contrast to the reclusive Sanders, and getting a surprising amount of national attention. 

At this point, the campaign is less about winning and more about opening cracks in the foundation. Historically (at least since the early 70s and the election of Dale Bumpers), the state was fairly bipartisan, alternating control from centrist Democrats to conservative Republicans, but in the past decade, conservatives have managed to make Arkansas the definitive deep red state. 

A big part of this is self-fulfilling expectations. Democrats are depressed and largely closeted. Republicans never consider crossing party lines. Churches are a reliable GOP vote. Jones has done a good job undermining that narrative. Check out Jones supporters' reaction to Sanders classifying them as the radical left.

Jones' odds are too low to talk about, but if he's changing the way Arkansans think about state politics, that's worth keeping an eye on.











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