Asa Hutchinson is a longtime figure in Republican party politics in the United States. He has been elected to high office at the federal level and in his home state of Arkansas. Hutchinson has also emerged as a high-profile critic of former Republican U.S. President Donald Trump.
Until recently, Hutchinson was the governor of Arkansas. He was term-limited from making another consecutive campaign for the office. And, perhaps ironically, he was succeeded by former Trump administration official Sarah Huckabee Sanders. But Hutchinson now seems willing to take on Trump in a head-to-head match-up.
Has launched a campaign for the 2024 Republican Presidential nomination
Asa Hutchinson is running for President of the United States, reports FiveThirtyEight. He joins a Republican primary field that includes Trump and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Haley was also the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration.
Several onlookers have speculated that Hutchinson could perform very well in a general election for President. But, as indicated by The Hill, there have been serious doubts about whether he can win the Republican nomination. Hutchinson seems to hope to capture the more moderate, traditional, non-Trump vote within the Republican Party. But the pro-Trump wing has, in recent years, played a dominant role in Republican primaries.
Hutchinson has been vocal in criticism of Trump on matters such as spreading unfounded conspiracy theories. As well as the former President's involvement with the riot at the United States Capitol. More recently, Hutchinson has called for the former President to drop out of the race amidst his legal turmoils.
Was the head of the Drug Enforcement Agency
In 1982, Hutchinson was appointed as the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas by President Ronald Reagan. Four years later, he ran for the United States Senate, losing to Democratic incumbent Dale Bumpers. Shortly after, Bumpers became chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee.
In 1990, Hutchinson was a candidate for attorney general of Arkansas. He lost to Democratic former Arkansas Secretary of State Winston Bryant. Bryant later became the state's lieutenant governor. But he also was selected as co-chairman of the state chapter of the Republican Party.
Asa Hutchinson was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1996. He won a seat in the 3rd District of Arkansas. In the ensuing years, he was re-elected twice. Along the way, Hutchinson was a manager in the impeachment trial of President, and fellow Arkansan, Bill Clinton.
He resigned from Congress in 2001. President George W. Bush appointed him as the new administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Two years later, President Bush named him as the U.S. secretary of homeland security for border and transportation security.
Hutchinson first ran for governor in 2006. He would lose by a significant margin to State Attorney General Mike Beebe. In 2014, Hutchinson ran for office again. This time he was handily defeating Democratic U.S. Representative Mike Ross. He was re-elected in a landslide in 2018.
He comes from a political family
Asa Hutchinson's brother, Tim, preceded him in his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Tim Hutchinson was not running in that election because he was running for the U.S. Senate. He would win that race but be defeated in his 2002 re-election bid.
Tim married the future Arkansas State Representative Donna Hutchinson in 1970.
Their sons, Jeremy and Timothy, would also become politicians. Timothy became a state representative. Jeremy became a state representative and a state senator. In the Arkansas House of Representatives, he rose to assistant minority leader and vice-chairman of the Joint Energy Committee.
Asa and Tim's sister, Marylea, is married to Kim Hendren. Hendren also served in both the House and Senate in the Arkansas General Assembly. He would become the minority leader in the latter. Their children, Jim Hendren and Gayla Hendren McKenzie are current members of the General Assembly.
Gayla is a member of the House. Jim, formerly of the House, is in the Senate. In recent years, he was the majority leader and the President pro tempore of the body. Also a staunch critic of the Trump wing, he has since resigned from the Republican Party and sits as an Independent.
Kim and Jim Hendren are also both retired high-ranking U.S. Air Force officers.
