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Endorsement for Change: Rodney Govens in Arkansas' First US Congressional District
24 Plays5 months ago
Join Steve and Kelly from Stand Up Arkansas as they present their 2024 voter's guide and endorsements.
This episode delves into the Congressional races, focusing on Rodney Govens' candidacy in Arkansas's 1st Congressional District. They discuss the differences between federal and state positions, the demographics and challenges of the district, and why they believe Govens is a superior choice compared to his opponent, Rick Crawford. Highlighting Govens' dedication to public education, infrastructure, and local issues, they provide a detailed look at his background, values, and campaign efforts.
00:00 Introduction and Purpose
00:17 Understanding Congressional Candidates
02:36 Rodney Govens: The Ideal Candidate
02:57 Rodney's Commitment to Local Issues
06:10 Rodney's Stance on Key Issues
06:41 Rodney's Dedication and Endorsement
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview of 2024 Voters Guide
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, this is the and this is Kelly and we're with stand up Arkansas and we're here with the voters guide for 2024 recommendations or our endorsements and we're going to start talking about the congressional races. First
Understanding Arkansas's Congressional Districts
00:00:14
Speaker
up, we've got Rodney Gubbins in the first case. Here's the thing.
00:00:19
Speaker
I want to talk about in this very first one, what you're voting for. So the people understand ah what a congressional candidate is versus a state house. It's a little confusing versus a justice of the peace. There's different levels, so but the US Congressman is a federal position. It is the guy that goes to Washington to represent us. And in Arkansas, the population is split by four. And it's about 750,000 people in the district.
Rodney Gubbins' District Dynamics
00:00:50
Speaker
That's roughly large. And it stretches all the way from
00:00:54
Speaker
all Harrison, which is north central up by Missouri, all the way over to the northeast corner like where Blavel is, all the way down the Mississippi to Louisiana. A U.S. congressional seat, this is the four positions that we have in Congress on the House of Representatives side of the U.S. Congress. We have two senators also.
00:01:18
Speaker
And the congressional seats are elected by population size, and the senators are elected two per state. So in our state, we have four. Roddy is in the first congressional district, like I was saying, it's on the eastern side of the state, the whole eastern side of the state, and it comes all the way over to the Little Rock. Literally, Lono County and Cabot is in that same district as Harrison and Arkansas City, Chico County, Deshae County, all the way down there below Pimelapse. So it's a very big, diverse, the the demographics are all over the place, the income is all over the place. You know, so there's a lot of challenges in
Criticism of Rick Crawford's Performance
00:01:57
Speaker
that district. He's running against a guy named Rick Crawford. And Rick is... Where's Rick? who Where's Rick? Rick is a character. He does not come back to his district.
00:02:07
Speaker
that I think he came back to do a book tour or something. Like we literally went to his office and there was dust and cobwebs where his office door hadn't even been opened in months. And Rick Crawford is suing the United States. He's suing the people saying the last 10 years I've worked, I should have got more money than I got. I shouldn't be making more money. Like he's literally suing for more money to be the Congressman.
00:02:35
Speaker
That's
Rodney Gubbins' Engagement with Local Issues
00:02:36
Speaker
who he's up against. So let's talk about Rodney then. Because I think that we have a better alternative than that. Oh, we have a much, much better alternative. That's a big buildup. Rodney's a great candidate. Yeah, another one I consider in my friend, I've worked on this campaign in the beginning with him and he is just a good guy and another uber smart dude. And he has been all over this gigantic district from the start of this campaign and has been talking to people and really trying to understand where the issues are and they are diverse and they are big.
00:03:11
Speaker
but he is very much aligned around public education, access. Like in in his specific district he is very concerned with what's going on with the Buffalo River that's right through his district and he's been up there and he's really listening to the people on the ground there and there's a bad history of the government coming in and imminent domain taking land from people and he's there for the people. Yet he's also all the way down over in West Helena where they've had the water problems and he's done rallies down there and brought water to West Helena. They're trying to get the infrastructure going over there. He's got a lot of the Bitcoin stuff going in the middle of his district that he's trying to deal with. You've got citizens that are upset with the noise ordinances and things.
00:03:58
Speaker
Lithium is going to be a big deal in the southern part of his district coming up. There's just so many local things that has to be taken consideration, and he has
Gubbins' Background and Advocacy Focus
00:04:07
Speaker
to know. And you have to be there in order to understand those local things. You have to be on the ground and talk to people. and you know I've recently talked with Rodney and ah his background is in taking care of people. He has a military background and he's a CASA, which is a certified court-assisted supervisor for foster kids. He came up through that system. He is a foster kid, yes. And I think he has a really unique perspective that gives him the opportunity to really represent
00:04:43
Speaker
those folks who have been and underrepresented. We adopted our daughter through the foster care system and so we know the challenges as does Rodney and he is fighting for those kids every single day. Oh and that's where his heart is and therefore public education is an important thing. And he literally worked in the broadband industry. He was working with a company that was doing that, but he was getting rural broadband to our underserved communities across rural Arkansas in the district he's running in.
Key Policy Priorities for Gubbins
00:05:14
Speaker
So he understands the needs of the people out here in the middle of nowhere sometimes, like we're for most buds, we get it.
00:05:21
Speaker
The importance of access is everything and ensuring that people have access to health care and to the services that they need, including ah broadband, high quality education. And agriculture is another big focus of his. He really wants to get a good solid farm bill. He's gone across the district talking to the farmers, looking what the needs are, seeing what we need in Arkansas. We have a lot like two or three of the five most subsidized farms in the country because we've got rice and soybeans. We got some big production in Arkansas. So he's very familiar with that. Obviously, I mentioned what was going on in West Helena. There's other northern cities that's having some water infrastructure. He wants to work on the infrastructure. That's real important to
Gubbins' Stance on Rights and Legislation
00:06:10
Speaker
him. But as in a lot of these races, the the candidates are coming down to reproductive rights. Right. That's another one. And I know Rodney believes in women's reproductive rights and he has supported that. He has advocated for that. And that's a yes for me on that front. And like guns is a big thing in election when you're trying to decide who's going to be your U.S. congressman. He believes in the Second Amendment. He believes in the right to bear arms. He thinks that we should have
00:06:36
Speaker
Common sense. Common sense gun laws, but he is absolutely for that. He's a big VA military supporter.
Endorsement and Gubbins' Bipartisan Approach
00:06:45
Speaker
He's a veteran. If you look at his stance on things for the military and his opponent Cropper's stance, Cropper voted against a lot of the things for our vets and for the VA. And that's not what you're going to see from Rodney when he gets up there. And he is committed to working across the aisle as well. And I think that is really important, especially in these congressional seats. We have seen what happens in Congress ah when they can't agree, right? I mean, right we talk about government shutdowns and all of that. We need people there who are willing to work across the aisle. And he's bold. He is bold. And he's not afraid, you know, there's some really tough areas of his district. And those are the places he went first. I can tell you, I was working with him over a year ago and the places where they were saying, Hey, that's either ah a tough place for you to go as a Democrat or with your values. And he's no, that's the place I want to go. right far I need to be there to talk to them. And he ran to those locations and yeah we had to hold him back. We, we were coaching him that you really got to do this fundraising thing first. You got to focus on these big rocks first and then get out and meet the people. And we were like, he was like, I'm going, I am going to talk to the people. Yeah. Get me on my motorcycle and get me out there.
00:08:04
Speaker
And he is a pleasure to listen to. He is a great public speaker. Inspirational. He's a great inspirational story. And he's a great family, wonderful kids, great life. I love Stacey. Stacey's wonderful. His kids are beautiful. He talks about them all the time. He's got twins. He's got a twin boy and girl. I can't even imagine. I can't imagine doing that and running for Congress. So good for Stacey and Rodney for making it through this. Absolutely. So first congressional district in Arkansas for the US Congress. Our endorsement is firmly running Evans. Thanks, Rodney.