John Pagan

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John Pagan

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

High school

Hall High School

Bachelor's

College of William and Mary, 1973

Law

Harvard University, 1978

Ph.D

Oxford University, 1997

Personal

Birthplace

Little Rock, Ark.

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

John Pagan (Democratic Party) ran in a special election for Arkansas Treasurer. He lost in the special general election on November 5, 2024.

Pagan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

John Pagan was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. He earned a high school diploma from Hall High School,a bachelor's degree from the College of William and Mary in 1973, a law degree from Harvard University in 1978, and a Ph.D. from Oxford University in 1997. His career experience includes working as an attorney.

John Pagan's professional experience includes working as a law professor for the University of Arkansas Little Rock School of Law and as a dean and professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. He has served as an Arkansas State Senator.

Elections

2024

See also: Arkansas Treasurer election, 2024

General election

Special general election for Arkansas Treasurer

John Thurston defeated John Pagan and Michael Pakko in the special general election for Arkansas Treasurer on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John Thurston (R)	65.4	755,156
		John Pagan (D)	30.3	350,210
		Michael Pakko (L)	4.3	49,847

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,155,213
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Special Democratic primary for Arkansas Treasurer

John Pagan advanced from the special Democratic primary for Arkansas Treasurer on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate
✔		John Pagan

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Special Republican primary for Arkansas Treasurer

John Thurston advanced from the special Republican primary for Arkansas Treasurer on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate
✔		John Thurston

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Libertarian convention

Special Libertarian convention for Arkansas Treasurer

Michael Pakko advanced from the special Libertarian convention for Arkansas Treasurer on February 25, 2024.

		Candidate
✔		Michael Pakko (L)

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Pagan in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

John Pagan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Pagan's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

John Pagan is the Democratic nominee for State Treasurer of Arkansas. He's a sixth-generation Arkansan who was born and raised in Little Rock. John earned a bachelor's degree in history at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. A Marshall Scholarship enabled him to do his graduate work at Oxford University in England, where he received a master's degree and a doctorate in history. John earned his law degree at Harvard Law School. He passed the Arkansas bar exam with the highest score and has been licensed as an attorney in Arkansas for 45 years.

John spent most of his professional life in higher education. During his forty-year academic career, he taught law and history at several universities, including the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and served for six years as Dean of the University of Richmond School of Law.

While teaching at UALR's law school (now called Bowen), John served on the Pulaski County Quorum Court. He subsequently won a seat in the Arkansas Senate, where he served on the Revenue and Taxation Committee. His proudest achievement as a state senator was his sponsorship of the bill that created the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship Program. This year about 28,000 college and university students are receiving these scholarships, which are funded primarily by proceeds from the Arkansas Lottery.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• John Pagan is well-qualified to handle the Treasurer's managerial and financial responsibilities.

  The Treasurer is the state's banker and chief investment officer. He or she receives and disburses government funds and manages the Treasury's $11.6 billion investment portfolio. The Treasurer also serves as a Trustee of the Teacher Retirement System ($22 billion), the Public Employee Retirement System ($11.5 billion), and the State Highway Employees' Retirement System ($1.6 billion).

  John knows how to manage a complex organization such as the Treasury. As a law school dean, he administered multi-million dollar budgets. His service as a JP and senator taught him how the state's financial system actually works.
• John Pagan will be careful with the taxpayers' money and will maintain total transparency in Treasury operations. As State Treasurer, John will make sure that taxpayers stay fully informed about his administration of public funds. The Treasury's website will make it easy to follow the money as he and his staff receive revenues, pay bills, disburse funds to state and local government agencies, and manage investments. He will post an up-to-date inventory of the Treasury's investment portfolio (bonds, money-market accounts, mortgage-backed securities, commercial paper, certificates of deposit, and other financial assets) so taxpayers can see where the Treasury has invested their money and monitor how well we have performed.
• John Pagan will strive to make higher education and job training more affordable for all Arkansans. John will vigorously promote the Treasury's Brighter Future 529 plan in order to help families build tax-free savings that they can use to pay for college and job skills programs. He will advocate using some of the Treasury's investment earnings (over $368 million in the last fiscal year) to increase the size of the Academic Challenge Scholarship stipends provided to students enrolled at Arkansas colleges and universities. Moreover, he will support the adoption and implementation of Issue 1, a bi-partisan constitutional amendment that will enable students at vocational-technical schools to receive grants funded by the Lottery.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

John Pagan will oppose efforts to weaponize the state's investment portfolio in order to fight battles in the culture war.

John advocates repealing Act 411 of 2023, which requires the Treasurer to blacklist environmentally responsible financial companies. Under John's leadership, the Treasury will base investment decisions only on pecuniary factors. He will focus exclusively on the three traditional investment criteria: safety, liquidity, and rate of return. Partisanship and ideology will not play any role in the Treasury's operations. His goal will be to make money for the taxpayers of Arkansas, not to cram a culture-war agenda down their throats.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

As noted earlier, the Treasurer manages billions of dollars on behalf of taxpayers and retirees. He or she is elected directly by the voters and is personally accountable to them. Because the Treasurer is independent of the governor and the legislature, he or she plays a vital role in maintaining a healthy system of checks and balances in Arkansas government.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

James Madison, "Vices of the Political System of the United States," April 1787, in James Madison: Writings, ed. Jack N. Rakove (Library of America, 1999), 69-80. I particularly like Madison's emphasis on the importance of government neutrality. "The great desideratum in Government," he observes, "is such a modification of the Sovereignty as will render it sufficiently neutral between the different interests and factions, to control one part of the Society from invading the rights of another, and at the same time sufficiently controlled itself, from setting up an interest adverse to that of the whole Society." Madison advocated "enlarging the sphere" of government--e.g., by creating large electoral districts--"because a common interest or passion is less apt to be felt and the requisite combinations less easy to be formed by a great than by a small number. The Society becomes broken into a greater variety of interests, of pursuits, of passions, which check each other, whilst those who may feel a common sentiment have less opportunity of communication and concert. "

Madison's comments about the "vices" of the political system of the United States under the Articles of Confederation apply to the political situation in Arkansas today. A single party dominates state government. That party is not a broad combination of disparate ideologies which hold each other in check. Rather, the MAGA Republicans form a single "faction" in the Madisonian sense. They relentlessly pursue an extreme agenda, using the coercive power of government to impose their will on the whole population. We can't enlarge the sphere of Arkansas to dilute MAGA control, so the "great desideratum" of governmental neutrality will remain unattainable until Democrats win enough elections to operate as an effective counter faction.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Integrity, candor, effectiveness, fidelity to the rule of law, responsiveness to constituents.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The State Treasurer must handle the taxpayers' money with the utmost care. He or she must pay the state's bills, maintain the state's financial records, and invest the taxpayers' money with total transparency and in accordance with law.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I remember the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957. I was six years old at the time. My mother had taught at Central High School, and my father was teaching at nearby West Side Junior High at the time of the Crisis. With my parents, I rode past Central in a car shortly after President Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock. I can vividly recall seeing the troops and their vehicles in front of the school. The Crisis was a defining event for Arkansans of my generation, and indeed for succeeding generations. I wrote my undergraduate thesis on the Crisis, and I had an opportunity to interview many of its principal figures, including Central students and teachers, Governor Faubus, and many other participants in the events of 1957-59.

What responsibilities of this office do you personally consider the most important?

Making sure that the People's money is spent according to law and that their investments are prudently managed.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

Yes, the Treasurer manages the 529 Savings Plan, which enables Arkansas families to save money tax-free for higher education and job training.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

Yes. As a former member of the Pulaski County Quorum Court and the Arkansas Senate, where I served on the Revenue and Taxation Committee, I have first-hand experience in state and local government finance.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

A State Treasurer needs three principal skills: 1. The ability to understand complex financial information and to make prudent decisions based on that data; 2. The ability to manage the budget and personnel of an important state agency; 3. The ability to navigate a complicated network of legal requirements governing the performance of his or her official duties. Because of my legislative experience in county and state government, my managerial experience as dean of a law school, and my legal expertise as an Arkansas lawyer for 45 years, I believe that I am well-equipped to handle the Treasurer's responsibilities.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Recommended by the Arkansas Education Association; endorsed by the AFL-CIO

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

I strongly favor complete financial transparency and total government accountability. The Treasury should publish financial information in a timely and comprehensible fashion.

Do you support or oppose changes to the current state ballot initiative process? If so, what kind of changes would you consider?

Yes, I strongly support reforming the current state ballot initiative process. The legislature has erected numerous obstacles that need to be removed. For instance, we should repeal the requirement that a certain number of signatures be obtained from at least 50 counties, and we should return to the number specified in the Constitution, i.e., 15 counties. We also should impose guardrails around the Secretary of State's signature-counting powers in order to prevent the arbitrary rejection of petitions based on the Secretary's personal views or partisan loyalties.. The hyper-partisan attorney general should be removed from the process altogether.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign website

John Pagan's campaign website stated the following:

“

Be careful with the taxpayers’ money Maintain total transparency when receiving and disbursing state funds Manage the state’s $11.5 billion investment portfolio in a prudent, non-partisan manner that focuses on safety, liquidity, and rate of return Protect the retirement benefits of teachers, public employees, and ARDOT employees as a member of their retirement systems’ boards of directors Promote the Arkansas Brighter Future 529 investment plan, a Treasury-sponsored program which enables families to build tax-free savings for education and job training Advocate using some of the Treasury’s investment earnings to increase scholarships for students enrolled in Arkansas colleges, universities, and vocational-technical schools

”

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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John Pagan campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Arkansas Treasurer	Lost general	$0	$0
Grand total			$0	$0
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

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