Clarke Tucker is chasing an elusive accomplishment for Democratic congressional candidates in the South who happen to be white and male: winning an election.
In the Republican wave election of 2010, many of the 60-plus seats Democrats lost were white males from below the Mason-Dixon Line. Since then, there haven’t been many congressmen like Tucker. He’s trying to break the losing streak this year on a message of moderation and localism.
The Arkansas Democrat is challenging Republican French Hill in Little Rock and its suburbs.
Tucker, a state representative, is a cancer survivor, works across party lines with the current Republican governor of Arkansas, supports the Second Amendment, and is very devoted to his faith.
Hill, meanwhile has the support of the White House — Vice President Mike Pence, who headlined a rally for him last month touting Hill’s support of the Trump tax cuts. Hill also has Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton who is working hard to help the two-term congressman hold the only urban seat in the state.
For his part Hill has done nothing wrong and his representation of the district in Washington reflects the district’s leanings.
So why is this House race getting close when this is a +10.7 Donald Trump district? (RealClearPolitics ranks it as merely “Leans Republican.”) First, being Little Rock, those Trump numbers are inflated by Hillary Clinton’s poor reputation here.
Second, because Tucker is simply a good candidate for the Democrats.
Third: He has money.
Despite his lack of progressive credentials the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of Washington House Democrats, dropped $275,000 on ads attacking his rival Hill on supporting the very tax cuts Pence was praising Hill for at the rally.
What is interesting about the race so far: Neither candidate has really campaigned on the two 2016 presidential candidates. Clinton remains unpopular in the state where she was once its first lady, and Hill seems content with the faith and economic message that Pence delivered last month.
Keep an eye on this race. If the Blue Wave continues its stall, Tucker will have to pull himself over the line on his own, something that is difficult in this once-Democratic state that has gone deep red.
