Asa Hutchinson
William Asa Hutchinson II 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.
Hutchinson was born in Bentonville, Arkansas, the son of Coral Virginia (Mount) Hutchinson (1912–1998) and John Malcolm Hutchinson Sr. (1907–1991). 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. 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.
Pre-Congress efforts
In 1986, Hutchinson ran against incumbent Democratic U.S. senator and former governor Dale Bumpers. 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.
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1992 Hutchinson's brother, Tim, was elected to Congress in Arkansas's third congressional district, when veteran U.S. Representative John Paul Hammerschmidt retired. In 1996, when his brother decided not to run for a third term in the House in order to seek the open Senate seat caused by the retirement of David Pryor, Hutchinson ran for the seat and won. Hutchinson, who had at first decided to run for an open seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives from Sebastian County, defeated Ann Henry, a longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, in November 1996. Although Henry outspent Hutchinson during the campaign, the district's heavy Republican tilt and his brother Tim's presence atop the ballot helped Asa win with 52% of the vote. Tim Hutchinson also won his campaign for the U.S. Senate and served one term, losing his reelection bid in 2002.
Drug Enforcement Administration
In 2001, at the beginning of the George W. Bush administration, Hutchinson was appointed Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He was confirmed by a 98–1 Senate vote.
Department of Homeland Security
After the September 11 attacks, Congress created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). President Bush tapped Hutchinson to lead the Border and Transportation Security Directorate, a division of the DHS. The Senate confirmed Hutchinson by unanimous consent on January 23, 2003. Hutchinson left office as Undersecretary on March 1, 2005.
Business career
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. 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. 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.
Political activities
Hutchinson agreed to serve on The Constitution Project's Guantanamo Task Force in December 2010. 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.
2006 election
Shortly after returning to Arkansas, Hutchinson announced his candidacy for governor in 2006. Initially, he was to face three-term Lieutenant Governor Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, who was favored in most pre-election polls, in the Republican primary. But Rockefeller's withdrawal and death from a blood disorder in early 2006 led to Hutchinson winning the primary. In the general election, he lost to the Democratic nominee, then-Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe.
2014 election
Hutchinson was the Republican nominee for governor of Arkansas in 2014. He was supported by House Speaker Davy Carter. On November 4, 2014, after defeating Tea Party-backed Curtis Coleman in the Republican primary, he defeated the Democratic nominee, Mike Ross, in the general election with 55% of the vote, the best showing for a Republican in an open-seat gubernatorial race since the end of Reconstruction. His victory also gave the GOP complete control of state government for the first time since the end of Reconstruction.
2018 election
Hutchinson was reelected on November 6, 2018, in a landslide, taking over 65% of the vote and carrying all but eight counties. In a bad year for the GOP nationally, Hutchinson garnered the largest margin of victory for a Republican candidate in Arkansas history.
Tenure
Hutchinson took office as governor on January 13, 2015. On November 16, 2015, Hutchinson said that he would block all Syrian refugees from entering the state in response to the November 2015 Paris attacks. Under Hutchinson, Arkansas resumed executions in 2017 after having executed no one since 2005. In 2021, DNA testing on the murder weapon and a bloody shirt at the scene of the crime did not match Ledell Lee, who was convicted and executed for murder. Hutchinson defended Lee's execution, saying, "the DNA findings released today do not present any conclusive evidence to undermine [Lee's guilty verdict]." In March 2017, Hutchinson signed Act 710 into law which prohibits Arkansas agencies from investing in or contracting with companies unless they sign a pledge not to boycott Israel or offer a 20% cut in compensation in lieu of signing such a pledge.
2024 presidential campaign
In May 2022, Hutchinson said he would consider running for president in 2024 even if former President Donald Trump ran again and that Trump's candidacy would not be a factor in his decision. He added, "I think he did a lot of good things for our country, but we need to go a different direction". On April 2, 2023, during an interview with ABC News' Jonathan Karl, Hutchinson announced his candidacy for the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries. Toward the beginning of his campaign Hutchinson distinguished himself as a Trump critic, calling for the former president to drop out of the race after being indicted by a New York grand jury. After Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury for mishandling classified documents, Hutchinson criticized other Republican presidential candidates for saying they would pardon Trump if elected. He also rebuked allegations made by fellow Republicans that the Department of Justice had been "weaponized" against Trump. Hutchinson came out against the decision by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to require candidates wishing to participate in the primary debate to sign a loyalty pledge saying they would support the eventual Republican nominee, stating he would not vote for Trump if convicted on federal charges. Because of the debate conditions, Hutchinson organized a meeting between RNC officials and one of his staffers. The staffer, on behalf of Hutchinson, requested that the RNC amend the debate requirements to accommodate Hutchinson's concerns; the RNC rejected his request. Hutchinson ultimately decided to sign the pledge, but when candidates were asked during the debate to raise their hand if they would still support Trump as the party's nominee if he were convicted, he and Chris Christie were the only ones not to do so.
Hutchinson has four children with his wife, Susan Burrell. 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.
