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Justin Harris (Arkansas)
Justin T. Harris is a former Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, representing District 81 from 2011 to 2017.
Harris did not seek re-election to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2016.
Harris formerly served on the West Fork City Council.
Biography
Harris earned his B.A. in Human Environmental Science from the University of Arkansas. His professional experience includes working as the owner of Growing Gods Kingdom, Incorporated.
Committee assignments
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Harris served on the following committees:
| Arkansas committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs, Vice chair |
| • Education |
| • Joint Budget |
2013-2014
At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Harris served on the following committees:
| Arkansas committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Joint Performance Review |
| • Public Health, Welfare and Labor |
| • Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs |
| • Legislative Joint Auditing |
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Harris served on these committees:
| Arkansas committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Advanced Communications and Information Technology |
| • Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs |
| • Revenue and Taxation |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Campaign themes
2012
Harris' website highlighted the following campaign themes:[1]
- Family Rights
- Excerpt: "Fight for the Traditional Family"
- Economy
- Excerpt: "Create Jobs, Jobs, Jobs (Not Government Jobs, but Entrepreneurship)"
- Health Regulation
- Excerpt: "Need Healthcare Regulation and not Reform. (Create an atmosphere that makes insurance companies competitive and accountable.)"
- Illegal Immigration
- Excerpt: "Create laws, such as the Arizona Law, that would enforce Immigration Laws that are not being inforced at the National Level"
- Protect the 2nd Amendment
- Excerpt: "Change the Arkansas Castle Law. The law, as written, does not protect the family or home owner."
Elections
2016
Ballotpedia's analysis revealed that only 42 of the 100 seats up for election in 2016 involved competition between Democrats and Republicans. This made it numerically impossible for Democrats to take control of either Arkansas legislative chamber in 2016.
The reason for the low competition was that candidates were in safe districts for their parties. Between 1972 and 2014, an upward trend in uncontested state legislative elections occurred.
The Democratic Party of Arkansas focused its 2016 efforts on the state’s House of Representatives. Without the numbers to win the state Senate, H.L. Moody, communications director for the Democratic Party of Arkansas, told Ballotpedia that the party’s goal was to “start building back where we can,” beginning with the House.
Ballotpedia spoke to political analyst Richard Winger, who said that the early primary deadline for the 2016 elections was a possible factor as well, making it difficult for Democrats to recruit candidates early.
The primary election was held on March 1, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing period began at noon local time on November 2, 2015, and ended at noon local time on November 9, 2015.[2] Incumbent Justin T. Harris (R) did not seek re-election.
Bruce Coleman defeated Susan McGaughey in the Arkansas House of Representatives District 81 general election.[3]
| Arkansas House of Representatives, District 81 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Bruce Coleman |
72.16% | 8,259 | |
| Democratic | Susan McGaughey | 27.84% | 3,187 | |
| Total Votes | 11,446 | |||
| Source: Arkansas Secretary of State | ||||
Susan McGaughey ran unopposed in the Arkansas House of Representatives District 81 Democratic Primary.[4][5]
| Arkansas House of Representatives, District 81 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | Susan McGaughey (unopposed) | |
Bruce Coleman defeated Derek Goodlin in the Arkansas House of Representatives District 81 Republican Primary.[4][5]
| Arkansas House of Representatives, District 81 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Bruce Coleman |
51.10% | 2,599 | |
| Republican | Derek Goodlin | 48.90% | 2,487 | |
| Total Votes | 5,086 | |||
2014
Elections for the Arkansas House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on May 20, 2014; a runoff election took place where necessary on June 10, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 3, 2014. Incumbent Justin T. Harris was unopposed in the Republican primary and was unchallenged in the general election.[6][7]
2012
Harris ran for re-election in the 2012 election for Arkansas House of Representatives, District 81. Harris defeated Lisa France Norris in the May 22 Republican primary and defeated Wolf Grulkey (D) in the general election on November 6, 2012.[8][9][10]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Justin T. Harris Incumbent |
67.3% | 6,891 | |
| Democratic | Wolf Grulkey | 32.7% | 3,355 | |
| Total Votes | 10,246 | |||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Justin T. Harris |
63.6% | 1,578 |
| Lisa France Norris | 36.4% | 904 |
| Total Votes | 2,482 | |
2010
Harris defeated Earl Hunton in the November 2 general election.[11]
| Arkansas House of Representatives, District 87 General Election (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Justin T. Harris (R)
|
4,439 | |||
| Earl Hunton (D) | 3,372 | |||
Campaign finance summary
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.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Arkansas scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2017
In 2017, the 91st Arkansas State Legislature was in session from January 9 through May 1. The Legislature held a special session from May 1 to May 3.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to conservative issues with "a focus on small business."
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to social issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2016, the 90th Arkansas State Legislature was in session from April 13 through May 9. The Legislature held a three-day special session from April 6 to April 8 over healthcare. The Legislature held a second special session from May 19 to May 23 over transportation.
|
2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2015, the 90th Arkansas State Legislature was in session from January 12 through April 2.
|
2014
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2014, the Arkansas General Assembly was in session from February 10 to March 20. Ballotpedia staff did not find any state legislative scorecards published for this state in 2014. If you are aware of one, please contact editor@ballotpedia.org to let us know. |
2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2013, the 89th Arkansas State Legislature was in session from January 14 through May 17.
|
2012
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2012, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2012, the Arkansas General Assembly was in session from February 13 to March 13. Ballotpedia staff did not find any state legislative scorecards published for this state in 2012. If you are aware of one, please contact editor@ballotpedia.org to let us know. |
2011
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2011, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2011, the 88th Arkansas State Legislature was in session from January 10 to April 27.
|
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Harris and his wife, Marsha, have three children.
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term Justin + Harris + Arkansas + House
See also
- Arkansas House of Representatives
- House Committees
- Arkansas State Legislature
- Arkansas state legislative districts
External links
- Justin Harris' campaign website
- House website
- Profile from Open States
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Legislative Profile from Project Vote Smart
- Campaign contributions via Follow the Money
- Justin Harris on Facebook
Footnotes
- ↑ justinharrisforstaterep.com, "Issues (Archived)," accessed April 9, 2014
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "2016 Election Dates," accessed November 17, 2015
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "2016 General Election and Nonpartisan Runoff Election," accessed November 23, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Arkansas Secretary of State, "Candidate Information," accessed July 25, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Arkansas Secretary of State, "2016 Primary Election Results," accessed April 19, 2016
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "Candidate Information," accessed March 5, 2014
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "Official primary election results," accessed June 26, 2014
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "Election Results 2012," accessed November 7, 2012
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "2012 Election candidates," March 8, 2012
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "Arkansas State Primary Election, May 22, 2012," accessed July 11, 2012
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "Official election results," accessed December 13, 2013
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Ballotpedia, "Arkansas's Freedom Scorecard," accessed July 10, 2017
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Karen Hopper (R) |
Arkansas House District 81 2013–2017 |
Succeeded by Bruce Coleman (R) |
| Preceded by Mark Martin |
Arkansas House District 87 2011–2013 |
Succeeded by Justin T. Harris (R) |
