Incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and opponent Democrat Erika Askeland have been campaigning for State Senate District 20 for the upcoming election.
The pair have discussed the LEARN Act, taxes, Arkansas libraries, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), food insecurity, and more in previous debates.
NEA Political Animals Debate Recap
The First debate between the pair was with Northeast Arkansas Political Animals at the A-State First National Bank Arena after the original venue sold out. The discussion was moderated by Arkansas State University’s Associate Professor and Department Chair of Political Science Cameron Wimpy, Ph.D.
During the Q&A section of the event, both were asked about their specific policy plans regarding public schools and protecting children. Askeland addressed the question first. In her statement, she said Arkansas has been proud to have a great public school education until the past few decades.
Askeland criticized the LEARNS Act that “exacerbated issues.” She pointed out Sullivan signed the bill. Askeland talked about her stance on supporting families, ensuring access to health insurance, and addressing food insecurity.
“Yesterday, the report from the USDA showed that we are one of the most food insecure states in the nation. I'm telling you there's nothing more important than putting food in kids' bellies,” Askeland said.
Sullivan said 42 cents of every tax dollar in Arkansas goes to K-12 Education. In the discussion, he emphasized the importance of budget balancing and highlighted that each tax dollar is allocated to various sectors such as corrections, the general government, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“I think my opponent has opposed raising taxes at local levels, so where do you get the money?” Sullivan said.
Sullivan spoke about the LEARNS Act positively in his statement. He said Arkansas is doing “fantastic things” including funding schools.
In the debate, the two also spoke on Tax Policy. Sullivan spoke out in support of recent income tax reductions and the need for Arkansas to remain competitive with neighboring states.
“For us to be competitive with the states around us, you look at Tennessee and Texas, Missouri, Louisiana, all of them are lowering their taxes,” Sullivan said.
Askeland contended that these tax cuts disproportionately favor the wealthy and fail to address the needs of Arkansans.
“The tax cuts that you approved benefit the top 5%, where the middle class is reaping very little to no benefits for that,” Askeland said. “That’s unacceptable.”
The full debate can be found here.
Kiwanis Club of Jonesboro Debate Recap
Their second debate was with the Kiwanis Club of Jonesboro. The candidates were asked questions by Kiwanis and audience members.
The first question asked was about the Freedom of Information Act.
Sullivan said he was a firm believer in FOIA.
“I am probably the leading sponsor of the Freedom of Information Act in the, in the state, in the legislature now,” Sullivan said.
Askeland said she believes that there needs to be more transparency especially right now with the LEARNS Act.
“It is on record that now that we have the Learns Bill, that is the voucher scam, that funnels tax dollars from public schools into private schools,” Askeland said.”Private schools are no longer held to the same accountability as public schools. We need to question why that is the case.”
In the debate, the two were also asked about library legislation by a Kiwanis member who expressed concern about the state of the library. In November 2022 Craighead County voters decided to reduce the library funding in half. The vote reduced the millage collection from 2 mills to 1 mill.
Sullivan during the debate spoke about SB81 or Act 372. He said the bill was “very misunderstood.” Sullivan was a lead sponsor of the bill titled “To amend the law concerning libraries and obscene materials: to create the offense of furnishing a harmful item to a minor: and to amend the law concerning obscene materials loans by a library.”
“I've been called Book Ban Dan all over the state. However, they can't point to a book that's been banned,” Sullivan said. “The bill, in essence, is that if you want to appeal a book, you appeal through the process to the director. But if you disagree with the director, you go to the elected officials.”
Sullivan added the elected officials can't remove the book; they only have the authority to replace it. He said Democrats needed to reconsider their position on library issues because Arkansasns have elected 29 republican senators to represent the state.
Askeland said Sullivan spreads misinformation about the library and it harms the people of District 20. She emphasizes the importance of libraries for the community.
“We should be building and growing our economy here and the wrong way to do that is to try to get people to come live here but have a library that you can't access,” Askeland said.
She also stated she had not noticed any sexually explicit materials or anything of that nature in a school building. She said ultimately it's up to the parents to determine what is right or wrong for their children.
The full debate can be watched here.
Their final debate will be on October 10th at 6 p.m. and will be hosted by ASU-TV and sponsored by KLEK, KASU, The Herald, and Red Wolf Radio.
