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Senate Race In Arkansas Could Decide Control Of The Senate

Arielle Samuelson |
October 13, 2014 | 11:52 a.m. PDT

Web Producer

Control of the Senate will be determined in part by which candidate wins the Arkansas Senate seat. (Ted Swedenburg/Flickr)
Control of the Senate will be determined in part by which candidate wins the Arkansas Senate seat. (Ted Swedenburg/Flickr)

Arkansas is a state worth fighting over.  At least in this year's midterm Senate race, as Republicans try to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats.  The Republican party needs six seats to regain the majority, and touts the Arkansas race as one of its key opportunities to win a seat.  

With Republicans already controlling the House of Representatives, a GOP Senate majority  could mean bad news for President Barack Obama's ability to pass policy during his last years in office.

“Help us take back America,” proclaims the campaign website of Republican candidate Tom Cotton, as the Senate race heats up for a state that could swing Democratic or Republican.

Incumbent Democratic senator Mark Pryor is defending his seat from first-term House Representative Tom Cotton, in a state now seeming to vote conservative, after President Barack Obama lost the Arkansas vote in 2012.

Pryor and Cotton went head-to-head in a televised debate Oct. 14, at the University of Arkansas, which included two nominees from the Green Party. 

Both Senator Pryor and Rep. Cotton strategized by highlighting their opponent's weakness. The first question in the debate came from an Arkansas journalist asking about the onslaught of negative campaigning.  

Pryor blamed Super PACs for the ads, before using his opening statement to talk about an audio recording of Cotton's California vacation with "billionaire donors" in previous months.

Cotton accused Pryor of voting with Obama 93 percent of the time, a common tactic this Senate race by the GOP. In a new poll released Oct. 15, Obama's national approval rating had fallen to 40 percent, the lowest since he was elected to office.

As of Oct. 15, telephone surveys put Tom Cotton maginally ahead with 47 percent to Mark Pryor's 44 percent, according to Rasmussen Reports.

Midterm elections will be held Nov. 4. 

SEE ALSO: Obamacare Website Redesigned To Be Faster And Easier To Use

Meet the Candidates: All quotes from Senate election debate on Oct. 15

Mark Pryor (D) Incumbent

The Senate is a family business for Mark Pryor; in 1978 his father David Pryor held the Arkansas seat for the Democrats for 18 years.  Mark Pryor graduated from the law school at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and held a private practice before being elected to the House of Representatives in 1990. Senator Pryor first won his Senate seat in 2003, when Arkansas was considered strongly democratic.

During the debate, Pryor said he was for the middle class, while accusing Cotton of solely listening to "out of state billionaires." He claimed he was voted the most independent senator in the Senate.

1. Opposes cutting funding for: Social Security and Veteran’s benefits

    "I disagree with [President Obama] on his cuts to Social Security."

2. Supports tax reform

    "I voted to cut taxes by $5.5 trillion since I've been in the Senate."

3. Opposes abortion, except in specific instances

3. Supports the Affordable Care Act plan and Medicare being handed over to insurance companies

      "If we reestablish the high risk pool we're just throwing sick people to the wolves."

4. Supports cutting government spending

    "In the last three years, I voted to cut $4 trillion out of spending."

5. Supports gender pay equality

Tom Cotton (R)

A Harvard Law School graduate and former Army Captain who toured in Iraq and Afghanistan, Representative Cotton has already served a term for Arkansas in the House. Cotton is a young conservative who is backed by the Tea Party.

During the debate, Cotton emphasized his childhood on a farm and his military service, while accusing Pryor of always voting with the president. He is opposed to President Obama on healthcare, military strategy, and "failed economic policies." 

1. Supports spending on military strategy

    "Let's rebuild the military. Let's stop apologizing for America."

2. Opposes the Affordable Care Act

    "Obama Care is a disaster...Let's repeal Obama Care and start over with healthcare reform."

3. Opposes federal stimulus spending

    "...get the government out of the private sector."

4. Supports the Defense of Marriage Act

5. Supports balancing the budget

    "We are $18 trillion in debt...We need to pass a balanced budget amendment."

Reach Web Producer Arielle Samuelson here.



 

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