Former Representative Mike Ross (D., Ark.), the Democratic nominee for governor, has some bad news for his party —for vulnerable Senator Mark Pryor (D., Ark.) perhaps most of all.
Ross believes that independents in his state strongly prefer Republicans. “Forty percent [of voters] are now independent, and the problem we’ve got is, they’re breaking 2-1 right now in favor of the Republican candidate,” he told supporters in June. A supporter of Republican candidate Asa Hutchison recorded Ross’ remarks at the W. Harold Flowers Law Society and recently provided the audio to Republicans, who released it last week.
The former congressman explained that he is a viable candidate only because of his breaks with Democratic party leadership.
“I was named one of the most independent members of Congress when I was there,” he said. “I did have an A rating with the NRA. I did vote against Obamacare. You know, I did. And, and quite frankly, if I was any different on any of those three, I couldn’t be running for governor right now in this state, in this situation that we find ourselves in, or if I did, I’d just be spinning my wheels.”
That’s tough for Pryor, who has a lifetime C- rating from the NRA and who voted for Obamacare.
“Senator Pryor’s record shows that he fights against the will of Arkansans, even the Democrat gubernatorial candidate realizes that,” Republican National Committee spokesman Raffi Williams said in a statement to National Review Online. “Arkansans stand against Obamacare, against Obama and national Democrats, and stand for the Second Amendment—nevertheless Pryor continues to rubberstamp President Obama’s agenda at the expense of Arkansas families.”
Ross noted that he thinks Pryor can win by defining Representative Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) as too extreme to be in the Senate.
“People in Arkansas are pretty angry and they’re saying that ‘if there’s not a difference between the two, then I’m going to vote Republican,’” Ross says at the event. “And one of the reasons Pryor is now doing better than Cotton is, I think, they’ve done a pretty good job of painting Cotton as the extremist, which I believe he is, and we’re beginning to do that with — now that these primaries are over — we’re beginning to do that with Asa.”
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