Nate Steel
Nate Steel is a former Democratic member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, representing District 19 from 2011 to 2015.
Steel was a Democratic candidate for Attorney General of Arkansas in the 2014 elections. He ran unopposed in the primary election on May 20, 2014. Nate Steel lost the general election on November 4, 2014.
Biography
Steel earned his B.A. in psychology and his J.D. from the University of Arkansas. His professional experience includes working as deputy prosecutor for the State of Arkansas, the vice president of Cossatot Community College, and as a partner of Steel and Steel.
Committee assignments
2013-2014
At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Steel served on the following committees:
| Arkansas committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development, Vice Chair |
| • Joint Budget |
| • Joint Performance Review |
| • Judiciary |
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Steel served on these committees:
| Arkansas committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Joint Budget |
| • Joint Energy |
| • Judiciary |
| • State Agencies and Governmental Affairs |
Elections
2014
- See also: Arkansas attorney general election, 2014
Steel ran unsuccessfully for election to the office of Arkansas Attorney General. Steel ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the primary on May 20. He faced Leslie Rutledge (R) and Aaron Cash (L) in the general election. The general election took place on November 4, 2014.
Results
| Attorney General of Arkansas, 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Leslie Rutledge |
51.6% | 430,799 | |
| Democratic | Nate Steel | 43.2% | 360,680 | |
| Libertarian | Aaron Cash | 5.2% | 43,245 | |
| Total Votes | 834,724 | |||
| Election results via Arkansas Secretary of State | ||||
Race background
In December 2013, the attorney general race was given its second consecutive "toss-up" rating by Governing. In March 2013, the open seat—held by term-limited Democrat Dustin McDaniel—was first rated vulnerable to partisan switch in the 2014 elections. Shortly before the March rating came out, McDaniel admitted to an extramarital affair in his attorney general tenure. As a result, McDaniel ended a long-anticipated campaign for the governor's office, which was open in 2014 due to incumbent Gov. Mike Beebe hitting term limits.[1]
Ballot access for political parties
In Arkansas, the process to establish a political party is tied to the votes cast in a presidential or gubernatorial election. In order to initially put candidates on the ballot, political parties must submit a petition with 10,000 signatures. Then, in order to maintain that status beyond the election year in which they submit such a petition, their candidate for governor or president must receive at least three percent of the votes cast for that office.[2][3]
In 2012, both the Libertarian and Green parties of Arkansas qualified to put candidates on the ballot, but then their candidates did not receive enough votes for the parties to maintain their ballot status. In the fall of 2013, both parties submitted new petitions and were qualified to put candidates on the 2014 ballot.[4][5][6] In order to maintain their status as political parties without needing to petition for the 2016 elections, their candidates for governor needed to receive at least 3 percent of the vote. Frank Gilbert (L) received 1.9 percent of the gubernatorial vote, and Josh Drake (G) earned 1.1 percent of the vote.[7]
Primary election
Five candidates—three Republican, one Democratic and one Libertarian—filed for the election to replace McDaniel. A primary was held on May 20 to decide which of the three Republicans would move on to the general election with the party's nomination. Neither Leslie Rutledge nor David Sterling, both lawyers from Little Rock, received a sufficient share of the vote to avoid a primary runoff election on June 10.
Rutledge and Sterling both focused on their legal resumes and past efforts to support conservative causes. Rutledge said she was “the only one with experience fighting crime, the only one with experience fighting the overreaching federal government.” Sterling, meanwhile, said his federal court experience made him the better candidate. “The AG’s office is essentially Arkansas’ largest law firm, and I think that the voters want a serious and responsible and experienced attorney leading that law firm,” Sterling said.[8]
Rutledge ultimately defeated Sterling in the Republican primary runoff, earning over 58 percent of the vote.[9] She faced unopposed Democratic nominee Nate Steel and Libertarian Aaron Cash in the general election on November 4.
Questions over Rutledge's voter registration
In late September, Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane (D) revoked Rutledge's voter registration because she was also registered in Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Rutledge criticized Crane's decision as a political maneuver and said in an interview with the Arkansas News Bureau, "There are consequences related to gender when it comes to women in politics, particularly, we know, when they run for traditionally quote-unquote masculine offices, and the attorney general's office is one of those."[10][10][11]
Polls
| Attorney General of Arkansas | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Leslie Rutledge (R) | Nate Steel (D) | Aaron Cash (L) | Undecided | Margin of error | Sample size | |||||||||||||
| Public Policy Polling September 18-21, 2014 | 41% | 35% | 7% | 17% | +/-2.6 | 1,453 | |||||||||||||
| Public Policy Polling August 1-3, 2014 | 38% | 32% | 10% | 20% | +/-3 | 1,066 | |||||||||||||
| AVERAGES | 39.5% | 33.5% | 8.5% | 18.5% | +/-2.8 | 1,259.5 | |||||||||||||
| Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org. | |||||||||||||||||||
2012
Steel ran for re-election in the 2012 election for Arkansas House of Representatives, District 19. Steel ran unopposed in the May 22 Democratic primary and ran unchallenged in the November 6, 2012 general election as well.[12][13][14]
2010
Steel defeated Frank Scott in the May 18 primary. He then won unopposed in the November 2 general election..[15][16]
| Arkansas House of Representatives, District 21 Democratic Primary (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Nate Steel (D)
|
2,382 | |||
| Frank Scott (D) | 2,144 | |||
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.
2014
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.
Steel is a 6th generation Arkansas lawyer.[18]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term Nate + Steel + Arkansas + House
See also
- Arkansas Attorney General
- Arkansas attorney general election, 2014
- Arkansas House of Representatives
- House Committees
- Arkansas State Legislature
- Arkansas state legislative districts
External links
- Profile from Open States
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Legislative Profile from Project Vote Smart
- Campaign contributions: 2012, 2010
- Nate Steel on Facebook
Campaign links
Footnotes
- ↑ Governing, "The 2013-2014 Attorneys General Races: Who's Vulnerable?" March 25, 2013
- ↑ Arkansas Code, "Title 7, Section 1-101-21," accessed December 3, 2013
- ↑ Arkansas House Bill 2036, "An Act To Amend the Law Concerning Certain Procedural Dates In Election; To Amend the Law Concerning Certain Petitions; And For Other Purposes," Approved April 18, 2013
- ↑ Libertarian Party of Arkansas Website, "History of the Libertarian Party of Arkansas," accessed December 5, 2013
- ↑ Green Party of Arkansas Website, "Ballot Access," accessed December 5, 2013
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin, "New Political Party Petition--Green Party," November 6, 2013
- ↑ UALR Public Radio, "Poll: Ross, Hutchinson In Virtual Dead Heat In Governor’s Race," April 6, 2014
- ↑ Arkansas News, "GOP attorney general hopefuls to face off in Tuesday’s runoff election," June 7, 2014
- ↑ newsobserver.com, "Rutledge wins GOP nomination for attorney general," June 10, 2014
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Times Record, "Election 2014: Arkansas AG Candidate Claims Gender Bias," October 5, 2014
- ↑ Times Record, "Ethics Complaint Against Arkansas Attorney General Dismissed," January 24, 2015
- ↑ 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, "Official 2012 Primary Results," accessed December 20, 2013
- ↑ VoteNaturally.org, "Primary results," accessed May 12, 2014
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "Official election results," accessed December 13, 2013
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Ballotpedia, "Arkansas's Freedom Scorecard," accessed July 10, 2017
- ↑ Nate Steel campaign website, "About," accessed February 11, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Bobby Pierce (D) |
Arkansas House District 19 2013–2015 |
Succeeded by Justin Gonzales (R) |
| Preceded by Vacancy |
Arkansas House District 21 2011–2013 |
Succeeded by Terry Rice (R) |
