After saying repeatedly that he would not retire, Arkansas 1st district Democratic Congressman Marion Berry announced he would not run for reelection. This makes him the second Democratic House member from Arkansas to announce he would retire; 2nd district incumbent Vic Snyder had already done so. Both Snyder and Berry were first elected to the House in 1996, to succeed retiring Democrats—Ray Thornton in the Little Rock-based 2nd district, Blanche Lambert Lincoln in the east Arkansas 1st district. Lincoln was in the process of giving birth to twins; she was elected U.S. senator in 1998 and reelected in 2004.
For Arkansas Democrats, 1996 was an excellent year to run for an open seat: Bill Clinton, running for reelection, won the 1st district 59%-32% and the 2nd district 55%-37%. Clinton also won the south Arkansas 4th district 60%-31% in 1996. That year Republican two-term incumbent Jay Dickey was reelected by a wide margin, but after voting for Clinton’s impeachment Dickey was defeated 51%-49% by Democrat Mike Ross in 2000. Ross has held that seat ever since and is now the only Arkansas Democratic House member who has not announced his retirement.
