2024 Presidential Election: Republican Candidate Asa Hutchinson
AI Generated Art of Asa Hutchinson
Asa Hutchinson attended Bob Johns University before heading to the University of Arkansas to obtain his Juris Doctor. Hutchinson would rise to the position of U.S. Attorney at 31 years old for Western Arkansas.
His defining moment came in 1985 when Hutchinson negotiated a standoff between the Arkansas police and The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA), a far-right anti-government, survivalist group, ending the multi-day standoff peacefully.
He would go on to prosecute the group and its leaders where these actions brought him into national headlines. Asa tried to spin this into a political career, challenging the Democratic Senator of Arkansas in 1986 but failing to defeat him.
Hutchison would try again for elected office, trying for Attorney General, but would narrowly lose again in 1990. He would find success in 1996 in the 3rd Arkansas District, a seat held by his brother, who decided to run for Senate.
His time in Congress was just four years. The most memorable part of his stint was Hutchinson being selected as a prosecutor in the 1999 Bill Clinton impeachment trial. In 2001, George W Bush would select Hutchinson to become the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
He would hold that position for a year and a half before being moved to lead the Border and Transportation Security division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Hutchinson would run in 2006 for Governor of Arkansas but would fail to defeat the Democrat, losing by 15%.
He would try again for the Governor’s office in 2014. However, Hutchinson would win by 15% over the Democratic candidate.
Governorship
Hutchinson’s tenure as Governor is remembered for socially conservative values as his tenure coincided with the first time that Republicans held a trifecta (Controlling the House, Senate, and Governors’s office) in the state.
Arkansas resumed executions for the first time since 2005. Hutchinson implemented work requirements for Medicaid recipients. The majority and Hutchinson would pass an anti-abortion law that included no exceptions in cases of rape and incest.
Hutchinson would limit localities from extending civil rights protections to LGBTQ people. During Covid-19, Hutchinson outlawed requiring proof of Covid-19 Vaccination to enter businesses and banned officials in the state from enacting mask mandates, with the latter regretted by Hutchinson.
He would break from Republicans over Donald Trump’s accusation the election was rife with voter fraud.
Stances
Hutchinson follows the typical conservative values of the Republican party, aligning with the party on most issues. The difference between the Republican party and Hutchinson is Donald Trump.
Hutchinson believes that following Trump will hurt the country and party. Other than that difference, his campaign has not expressed many or any policies different from other candidates.
Current Campaign
Hutchinson’s campaign has been lackluster. Polls have him sitting at 0.5% of the vote, putting him in eighth place. Whether or not Hutchinson will want to do the debate in August is unknown, but currently, he will not qualify. His campaign has only gathered 5,000 of the required 40,000 donors.
