Congress has profound influence on outdoors conservation and outdoors recreation, so it’s important to know where candidates stand on issues that affect a large percentage of our state’s population.
We appreciate Chris Jones, the presumptive Democratic candidate running for the Second Congressional District against Republican incumbent French Hill. Jones ran unsuccessfully for governor as the Democratic Party candidate in 2022 against Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the eventual winner.
When no incumbent is running for governor, we have — or had — a long tradition of presenting a question-and-answer exchange between the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates in this space. We present the exact same questions to both candidates, and we publish their answers verbatim, side by side. They are not chip shot interviews for the candidates. Only one reporter ever queries them on these topics. They don’t see the questions beforehand, so they can’t fall back on prepared, vetted responses. Their answers are spontaneous and elucidating.
Huckabee Sanders is the only candidate to ever decline the invitation.
Chris Jones accepted. Hunting, fishing and other outdoor-related topics were not his strong suit, but he showed up, and we respect him for it.
Hill’s record as an advocate for outdoors conservation and recreation predates his time in elected office. As a staff member for former Sen. John Tower, R-Texas, in the early 1980s, Hill said that he persuaded Tower, who was not environmentally friendly, to endorse the Arkansas Wilderness Act. Tower’s support emboldened the rest of the Reagan-era Republican caucus to support it. Without Tower’s endorsement, the bill probably would not have passed, or it would have passed in a highly diluted form.
