Some people would argue that for partisan nastiness, Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis is without peer, and that may be so; but Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders clearly wants to be in any race to the bottom.
Sanders, if you don’t know, is the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a former Fox commentator and Trump White House press secretary, and gave a widely-derided response to Biden’s 2023 state of the union speech (details here).
This is Sanders’ first year as governor, and according to the Arkansas Times, her ultra-reactionary policies are “Making Arkansas Worse Again” (read op-ed here):
“With the 2023 legislative session blessedly at its end, Arkansas progressives (plus moderates and anyone to the left of the Proud Boys) know what complete and utter political defeat looks like. It’s this: tax cuts for the wealthy and out-of-state investors, even as children in the state go hungry; universal vouchers to subsidize wealthy families’ private school tuitions while denigrating and defunding the traditional public schools that educate the masses; no budging on a near-total abortion ban, not even for victims of incest or women carrying fetuses destined to die before birth or to suffer for only a few torturous hours beyond it; a barrage of new laws that do nothing but hammer home the message that transgender Arkansans are not welcome and will not be accommodated.”
And the op-ed authors lay the blame for this squarely on Sanders and her “supercharged ego,” claiming she “called all the shots,” and accusing her of “throw[ing] Trumpian blows of staggering cruelty” at “all but the wealthiest and most insulated” Arkansas citizens. Among her accomplishments: Legalizing child labor, threatening librarians with jail time, promoting school vouchers, and of course tax cuts for the well-off.
Arkansas is a southern state, 15% of its population is black, and its schools were desegregated with federal troops. School vouchers are used in the south (and elsewhere) as a way to resegregate K-12 education (see articles here and here). And cutting taxes for the wealthy and businesses, of course, is classic rightwing trickle-down economics, the argument being it creates jobs. What really creates jobs, though, is rising living standards.
They also criticized her for what she didn’t do. Arkansas ranks high in gun deaths, but she opposed gun reforms; and in teen pregnancies, which she did nothing to alleviate. In 2019, Arkansas’ murder rate was 4th highest of the 50 states; in 2023, its teen pregnancy rate was 2nd highest, behind only Mississippi’s (details here and here). In 2021, Arkansas had the 6th highest poverty rate (see article here), yet its governor seems dedicated to making it worse.
Why? Because Sanders, having got a taste of the limelight, has national ambitions; and her game plan is to out-MAGA everyone else. That’s a lot easier than tackling real problems and actually doing something for her state. We’ll see whether that’s enough to get her re-elected or promoted to a higher office (e.g., U.S. Senate).
But for the present, Arkansas isn’t a state I’d want to live in, although that’s not an issue, because I’ll never move there. I’m happy where I am. As for whether Sanders is America’s worst governor, that’s debatable, but she’s giving it the “old college try.” I’ll say this for her, though: If Arkansas Times is right that a compliant legislature is falling in line behind her, she’s a forceful leader. Just not in a good way.