Breaking News: Ross Wins Debate, Defines Choice

Press Release

In the first live, televised debate between gubernatorial nominees Mike Ross and Asa Hutchinson, Mike Ross's small-town Arkansas values stood in sharp contrast to Congressman Hutchinson's career as a Washington bureaucrat and lobbyist that put him squarely out of touch with Arkansas. Ross pledged to continue and build on the jobs and economic progress of Governor Mike Beebe that Hutchinson has repeatedly criticized.

"I'm running to be the Education Governor because that's how you create more and better-paying jobs in Arkansas and it's how you help working middle class families get ahead. That's why I want every Arkansas child to start sooner and finish stronger, and why every Arkansan -- no matter your age -- should get the skills and training you need to get a good-paying job or a better-paying job," said Ross. "As the son of public school educators, I've seen firsthand the transformative power a good education can have and how it can open doors of opportunities for countless Arkansans of all ages. I know it because I've lived it."

Ross championed his tax cut program to put more money in the pockets of Arkansans, his plan to increase access to pre-kindergarten education and college opportunity. Hutchinson has reversed course and now claims to recognize the value of the pre-kindergarten education despite his opposition to it in Washington.

Ross also said he would continue and build on the Governor's Quick Action Closing Fund, a signature program Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe introduced that helped lead to the announcement of 30,000 jobs. Hutchinson called the program a 'slush fund' when he opposed Beebe for Governor in 2006 and renewed his criticisms at Friday night's debate.

Congressman Hutchinson continued his out of touch Washington double-speak, even refusing to take a firm position on whether he would continue the health care 'private option' in Arkansas, despite having previously opposed it. And, despite voting against raising the minimum wage multiple times in Congress, he flip-flopped on his previous opposition to the effort to raise the state's minimum wage.

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