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Steven Unger (Arkansas)
Steven Unger (Republican Party) is a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, representing District 19. He assumed office on January 9, 2023. His current term ends on January 11, 2027.
Unger (Republican Party) is running for re-election to the Arkansas House of Representatives to represent District 19. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
Biography
Steven Unger was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas and lives in Springdale, Arkansas. Unger served in the U.S. Navy from 1976 to 2015 and reached the rank of captain. He earned a bachelor's degree in public administration from the University of Arkansas in 1981, a graduate degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1990, and a graduate degree from the Marine Corps University Command and Staff College in 2002.[1][2]
Unger's career experience includes working as a hospital corpsman, surface warfare officer, and chaplain with the U.S. Navy. He served on the board of Bethany Christian Services.[1][2]
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.
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Unger was assigned to the following committees:
Elections
2026
See also: Arkansas House of Representatives elections, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 19
Incumbent Steven Unger is running in the general election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 19 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Steven Unger (R) | |
| ||||
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Endorsements
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2024
See also: Arkansas House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 19
Incumbent Steven Unger defeated Billy Cook in the general election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 19 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Steven Unger (R) | 55.8 | 6,320 |
 | Billy Cook (D) | 44.2 | 5,002 | |
| Total votes: 11,322 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Billy Cook advanced from the Democratic primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 19.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Steven Unger advanced from the Republican primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 19.
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Unger in this election.
Pledges
Unger signed the following pledges.
2022
See also: Arkansas state legislative special elections, 2022
General election
Special general election for Arkansas State Senate District 7
Colby Fulfer defeated Lisa Parks in the special general election for Arkansas State Senate District 7 on February 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Colby Fulfer (R) | 50.4 | 2,033 |
 | Lisa Parks (D) | 49.6 | 2,001 | |
| Total votes: 4,034 | |||
| = 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 runoff election
Special Republican primary runoff for Arkansas State Senate District 7
Colby Fulfer defeated Steven Unger in the special Republican primary runoff for Arkansas State Senate District 7 on January 11, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Colby Fulfer | 52.1 | 922 |
| Steven Unger | 47.9 | 847 | |
| Total votes: 1,769 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Special Democratic primary for Arkansas State Senate District 7
Lisa Parks defeated Derek Van Voast in the special Democratic primary for Arkansas State Senate District 7 on December 14, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lisa Parks | 84.2 | 723 |
| Derek Van Voast | 15.8 | 136 | ||
| Total votes: 859 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Special Republican primary for Arkansas State Senate District 7
Colby Fulfer and Steven Unger advanced to a runoff. They defeated Jim Bob Duggar and Edge Nowlin in the special Republican primary for Arkansas State Senate District 7 on December 14, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Colby Fulfer | 46.7 | 1,388 |
| ✔ | | Steven Unger | 31.7 | 943 |
 | Jim Bob Duggar | 15.3 | 456 | |
 | Edge Nowlin | 6.3 | 188 | |
| Total votes: 2,975 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
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2024
Steven Unger did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Steven Unger completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Unger's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- I want to expand opportunities for vocational training and education. Our schools need to do a better job of making graduates job-ready , and vocational education is the key. We need more plumbers, electricians, diesel mechanics, and many other technical skillsets.
- I support proactively improving the energy grid. I have been stationed in California and want to avoid our region being afflicted with rolling blackouts. The time to fix this problem is before it happens.
- I am concerned about how we handle trash and recycling. In Northwest Arkansas the Tontitown landfill is near capacity. As our population continues to grow, our current model of handling solid waste and recycling is unsustainable. We need to work together to find a better solution.
I would like to serve on the judicial committee. My experience as a reserve sheriff's deputy has taught me that law enforcement needs the tools to protect their communities from those who are at war with society. I also believe that our department of corrections needs to do a better job in rehabilitating those who have served their sentence and wish to rejoin their families and communities as law-abiding citizens.
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
Unger’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Pro-Life The state of Arkansas has made progress on the right to life issue; that is, the Republican legislature has worked hard to protect the rights of preborn children. Even so, we can do more. All Life—planned or unplanned, wanted or initially unwanted—is precious and worthy of respect. We must create a culture that loves life and supports mothers, fathers, and the most vulnerable among us, preborn children. Over the years, I’ve tried to do my part in cultivating this culture that values human life. For many years, I have and continue to financially support pro-life organizations; also, I currently serve on the board of a local Arkansas adoption agency. I do whatever I can to help at-risk pregnant mothers, which sometimes looks like moving furniture in in the back of my old pickup truck to safer homes for these mothers. Creating a culture that values human life occurs in small and large ways. A culture valuing human life will take root through a combination of strong leadership, good legislation, and vibrant partnerships with communities of faith. Pro-Second Amendment It is often said that the 2nd amendment, the right of the people to keep and bear arms is the amendment that protects all of our other rights. As your state senator, I will always defend the people's right to keep and bear arms. Pro-Business Earlier this year I had the opportunity to take a road trip that included tracing parts of the Oregon Trail. Exploring parts of the trail where you could still see ruts from wagon wheels was exciting. It made me think of the courage it took to break from everything that was sure and known and risk everything by moving toward the unknown. It took guts to try. Historians say that the Orgon Trail has countless unmarked graves along the way. But for those who made it, their risk was rewarded with a new and prosperous life. Starting your own business is the equivalent of that move West. You leave the known and sure thing of your employment and stake everything on your vision. The work and hustle never stop, and success is not guaranteed. But for those who succeed, they have improved quality of life for themselves and those in their community. The settlers on the Orgon Trail lived with threats from nature: flash floods, blizzards, rockslides. Today’s business owner lives with threats from our own government in the form of countless and sometimes contradictory regulations. A farmer fined by the EPA because dust from the field he just plowed blew across the road. Small businesses forced to shut down by COVID mandates while big-box stores stayed open. And Amazon profits grew by 200%. This is just wrong. As your State Senator, I will do everything I can to protect your interests. Skilled Trades Education Somewhere along the line in this country, manual labor and blue collar jobs became disrespected. If you were going to be somebody, you had to go to college. A large part of the con-job of globalization was moving manufacturing jobs overseas. Some politician who couldn’t check the oil in his car thought Americans were unwilling to get their hands dirty. Globalization was a terrible idea. Whoever sold us on that idea should get an award from the Kremlin. We spend more money on education than almost any other country in the world, and a lot of what we get is pitiful. Sure there are kids who should and do go to college, but kids who are not seen as “college bound” are looked down on. State government can’t change that silly mindset, but we can change what we pay for. Did you know that one of the best vocational training schools in the country is right here in Springdale? Part of how we won WWII was Americans know how to mass-produce industrial and technical training. Our armed forces do it every day. A kid who has no interest in college should have the opportunity to offramp in the 10th grade to a technical school and not be seen as a drop out, but as a graduate. We have all of the drama majors and philosophy majors we need. We need more truck drivers, home builders, nurse’s aides, and so on. We can fix this; we just need the will to do it. Limited Government To my grandparents, Franklin Roosevelt was revered as almost divine. My grandparents gave him credit for every good thing that happened during the Great Depression. You may have heard that explanation while you were coming up in school. I know I did. While some still see that view through the rose colored glasses of nostalgia, it is not true. Sometimes a beautiful fantasy needs to get corrected by cold hard facts. The Forgotten Man, a book by Amity Shlaes, opened my eyes a few years ago to the reality of what Roosevelt created: a Soviet-inspired big government which brought burdensome regulations along with out-of-control spending and prevented the economy from recovering until World War II. What the New Deal really did was to create government regulations that squashed both individual rights and creative initiatives. It was like Roosevelt had declared war on business and personal responsibility. Does that sound familiar? As your state senator, I will do my best to protect you from out-of-control government and stand for small business.[3] |
” |
| —Steven Unger’s campaign website (2022)[4] | ||
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.
2024
In 2024, the Arkansas State Legislature was in session from April 10 to May 9.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to small business issues.
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Arkansas State Legislature was in session from January 9 to May 1.
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See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 LinkedIn, "Steven Unger," accessed December 20, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on December 23, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Steve Unger for Arkansas Senate, “On The Issues,” accessed January 4, 2022
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Justin Gonzales (R) |
Arkansas House of Representatives District 19 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
