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Trent Garner

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Trent Garner (Republican Party) was a member of the Arkansas State Senate, representing District 27. He assumed office in 2017. He left office on January 9, 2023.

Garner (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Arkansas State Senate to represent District 27. He won in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Biography

Trent Garner graduated from University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and went on to earn his J.D. and M.A. in political science from the University of Arkansas Law School. Garner is a former Special Forces Green Beret. He served two tours in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. He received the Bronze Star with V device, Combat Infantry Badge, and Special Forces Tab decorations.[1]

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.

2021-2022

Garner was assigned to the following committees:

2019-2020

Garner was assigned to the following committees:

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Arkansas committee assignments, 2017
Judiciary
State Agencies and Governmental Affairs
Joint Performance Review
Joint Performance Review

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.


Elections

2022

See also: Arkansas State Senate elections, 2022

Trent Garner did not file to run for re-election.

2020

See also: Arkansas State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Arkansas State Senate District 27

Incumbent Trent Garner defeated Keidra Burrell in the general election for Arkansas State Senate District 27 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Trent Garner
Trent Garner (R)
 
61.1
 
19,892
Image of Keidra Burrell
Keidra Burrell (D) Candidate Connection
 
38.9
 
12,677

Total votes: 32,569
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Arkansas State Senate District 27

Keidra Burrell defeated Garry Smith in the Democratic primary for Arkansas State Senate District 27 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Keidra Burrell
Keidra Burrell Candidate Connection
 
66.3
 
4,582
Image of Garry Smith
Garry Smith
 
33.7
 
2,324

Total votes: 6,906
Candidate Connection = 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

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Trent Garner advanced from the Republican primary for Arkansas State Senate District 27.

2016

See also: Arkansas State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for the Arkansas State Senate took place in 2016. 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]

Trent Garner defeated incumbent Bobby Pierce in the Arkansas State Senate District 27 general election.[3]

Arkansas State Senate, District 27 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Trent Garner 54.57% 16,803
     Democratic Bobby Pierce Incumbent 45.43% 13,986
Total Votes 30,789
Source: Arkansas Secretary of State


Incumbent Bobby Pierce ran unopposed in the Arkansas State Senate District 27 Democratic Primary.[4][5]

Arkansas State Senate, District 27 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party Candidate
    Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Bobby Pierce Incumbent (unopposed)


Trent Garner ran unopposed in the Arkansas State Senate District 27 Republican Primary.[4][5]

Arkansas State Senate, District 27 Republican Primary, 2016
Party Candidate
    Republican Green check mark transparent.png Trent Garner  (unopposed)

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Trent Garner did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Garner's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

Economic Growth

A new direction for District 27 starts with the most important issue; creating jobs. We have to grow the economy so that the people of Arkansas can find good paying jobs. We need to foster an environment where small businesses can flourish. We can use our God-given natural resources of the district such as timber, oil, and lignite to grow our economy. Our district can become the top defense industry leader in the nation.

As your next state senator, I will be the right leader to apply free-market, conservative principles to create economic growth in the district.

Conservative Government

We have got to stop spending money we do not have on programs that just do not work. When I am elected, I will support smaller government that gets rid of waste and fraud, will put more power in the hands of the people of Arkansas, and will create economic growth. This includes replacing the Private Option, aka “the Obamacare of Arkansas.”

We have to reduce our tax burden to make us competitive with other states when attracting new businesses in the district.

Education

As a son of a kindergarten teacher, I know how important education is to the people of Arkansas. We have a duty to support our hardworking teachers. We have an opportunity to give a better education to our children. Our district is fortunate to have two great public community colleges in Southern Arkansas University Tech and South Arkansas Community College, and I will do everything I can to support these colleges.

Individual Rights

As a lifetime member of NRA, a former weapon sergeant in Special Forces and an avid sportsman, I am a strong supporter of the right to bear arms. I will lead the fight to protect our gun rights in Little Rock.

I am a pro-life, pro-traditional marriage Christian that will vote to secure individual rights. This includes defunding Planned Parenthood and sponsoring laws to protect the lives of the most innocent Arkansans.[6]

—Trent Garner[7]

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.


Trent Garner campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2020Arkansas State Senate District 27Won general$195,891 N/A**
2016Arkansas State Senate, District 27Won $168,044 N/A**
Grand total$363,935 N/A**
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Arkansas

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.




2022

In 2022, the Arkansas State Legislature was in session from February 14 to March 15.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to small business issues.


2021


2020


2019


2018


2017





See also


External links

Footnotes


Current members of the Arkansas State Senate
Leadership
Majority Leader:Blake Johnson
Minority Leader:Greg Leding
Senators
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
District 26
Vacant
District 27
District 28
District 29
Jim Petty (R)
District 30
District 31
District 32
District 33
District 34
District 35
Republican Party (28)
Democratic Party (6)
Vacancies (1)