Asa Hutchinson
William Asa Hutchinson II (/ˈeɪsə/, AY-sə; born December 3, 1950) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 46th governor of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a U.S. attorney, U.S. representative, and in two roles in the George W. Bush administration. He was a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Asa Hutchinson
Phil Murphy
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Cuomo
Phil Murphy
Position established
Randy Beardsworth (acting)
George W. Bush
John B. Brown III
Ken Coon
Lloyd Stone
Larry McCord
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Tim Hutchinson (brother)
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Hutchinson to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, which covers most of Fort Smith. In 1986, Hutchinson unsuccessfully challenged Democratic U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers, before losing a race for Attorney General of Arkansas to Winston Bryant four years later. He later successfully ran for the House of Representatives in 1996, representing Arkansas's 3rd congressional district until 2001, when president George W. Bush successfully nominated him as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. In 2003, Bush appointed Hutchinson as the Under Secretary for border and transportation security at the newly established Department of Homeland Security; Hutchinson retired from the Bush administration in 2005.
In 2006, Hutchinson was the Republican nominee for governor of Arkansas, but lost to Democratic nominee Mike Beebe, the state attorney general. In 2014, Hutchinson was again the Republican nominee for governor, this time defeating the Democratic nominee, U.S. Representative Mike Ross. He was reelected in 2018 with nearly two-thirds of the vote. Due to term limits, he was barred from seeking reelection in 2022, and was succeeded by Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
From 2020 to 2021, Hutchinson served as vice chair of the National Governors Association. He succeeded Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York as chair of the organization for 2021–2022.
In 2023 he announced his candidacy in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries. He suspended his campaign on January 16, 2024 after a poor performance in the Iowa caucuses.
Early life and legal career[edit]
Hutchinson was born in Bentonville, Arkansas, the son of Coral Virginia (Mount) Hutchinson (1912–1998) and John Malcolm Hutchinson Sr. (1907–1991).[1] He earned his bachelor's degree in accounting from Bob Jones University in South Carolina in 1972 and received his J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1975.[2] He practiced law in Fort Smith for 21 years and handled more than 100 jury trials.
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Hutchinson U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. At age 31, Hutchinson was the nation's youngest U.S. attorney. He made national headlines after successfully prosecuting The Covenant, The Sword, and The Arm of the Lord (CSA), a white supremacist organization founded by polygamist James Ellison. The CSA forced a three-day armed standoff with local, state, and federal law enforcement. As U.S. attorney, Hutchinson personally negotiated a peaceful conclusion to the standoff.[3]
Early political career[edit]
Pre-Congress efforts[edit]
In 1986, Hutchinson ran against incumbent Democratic U.S. senator and former governor Dale Bumpers.[4] It was a good year for Democrats, and Hutchinson fared worse than Bumpers's previous Senate challenger, Little Rock investment banker William P. "Bill" Clark.
In 1990, Hutchinson ran against Winston Bryant for attorney general of Arkansas; he lost the race by a margin of 55–45%. Hutchinson then became co-chair, with Sheffield Nelson, of the Arkansas Republican Party, a position he held from 1991 through 1995, the last four years as full chair. He considered a rematch with Bumpers in 1992 before deferring to Mike Huckabee, who lost to Bumpers.
Post-Bush administration[edit]
Business career[edit]
In early 2005, Hutchinson founded a consulting firm, Hutchinson Group, LLC, with partners Betty Guhman and Kirk Tompkins, in Little Rock, and accepted a contract for a one-year position with Venable LLP in Washington, D.C., as the chair of its Homeland Security practice.[11] Hutchinson ended his contract with Venable LLP in March 2006 to focus on his gubernatorial campaign and his consulting firm in Little Rock. In January 2007, Hutchinson rejoined Venable.[12]
In June 2006, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that Hutchinson's $2,800 investment in Fortress America Acquisition Corporation, a company that Hutchinson was advising, was worth over $1 million after the company's initial public offering. The news story noted that Hutchinson was unable to touch his stock for another two years. The six founding shareholders in Fortress America, in addition to Hutchinson, included former U.S. Representative Tom McMillen, former U.S. Senator Don Nickles, and a private-equity firm that had former CIA Director James Woolsey among its partners.
On May 4, 2006, Hutchinson had filed a financial disclosure form he was required to submit as a candidate for governor. The form did not list his 200,000 shares in Fortress America, which were trading at about $5 per share. "Just totally an oversight", Hutchinson said when questioned by the media in June.[13] He filed an amended report the next day to correct the error.[14]
Political activities[edit]
Hutchinson agreed to serve on The Constitution Project's Guantanamo Task Force in December 2010.[15][16][17] He told the Associated Press he agreed to join the task force because he believed it was "something important for our national security and our war on terrorism."
In the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) assembled a group with backgrounds in homeland security, law enforcement training, and school safety to review school security standards in select areas of the country. Led by Hutchinson, the group's stated goal was to produce a comprehensive plan to address the safety of children in schools and to prevent such shootings in the future. On April 2, 2013, he presented the National School Shield plan during a news conference at the National Press Club.[18][19]
Personal life[edit]
Hutchinson has four children with his wife, Susan Burrell.[64]
Hutchinson's older brother, Tim, preceded him as U.S. representative from Arkansas' 3rd congressional district and served as a U.S. senator from 1997 to 2003 before being defeated for reelection by Arkansas Attorney General Mark Pryor, a Democrat, in 2002. Asa and Tim Hutchinson are both graduates of Bob Jones University. Tim Hutchinson's identical twin sons, Jeremy and Timothy Chad Hutchinson, were the first twins to serve together in the Arkansas General Assembly, both as members of the House of Representatives. Asa Hutchinson is the brother-in-law of former Arkansas state senator Kim Hendren, who in 1958 married his sister Marylea Hutchinson. Arkansas district 2 state senator Jim Hendren of Sulphur Springs is Hutchinson's nephew.[65]