Rodney Govens is running for Congress in the First District of Arkansas as a Democrat: NAJ screen shot from the web

By Glynn Wilson –

Now that Vice President Kamala Harris has dispatched Donald Trump in the presidential debate event Tuesday night on ABC, live from Philadelphia – the birthplace of American independence, freedom and democracy – it’s time to think about which party might control the closely divided Congress next year.

Related: A Majority of the American People Who Watched Say Kamala Harris Clearly Won the ABC Debate

Can the Democrats regain control of the House and retain a majority in the Senate? Or will the Republicans have a chance at taking over the Senate and maintaining control in the House? The Democrats need to pick up at least nine seats in the House to take over the gavel and control the legislative agenda. If they win the White House the Vice President will have the power to cast the deciding vote in the Senate in the event of a tie.

It has come to our attention that there is an interesting contested Congressional race in Eastern Arkansas between a U.S. veteran and Democrat Rodney Govens from Cabot, who is a longtime Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children, and incumbent Rick Crawford, an entrenched MAGA Republican Trump supporter, originally from Jonesboro.

Arkansas Congressman Rick Crawford: NAJ screen shot of official Clerk of the House photo

Crawford, who was swept into Congress in the anti-Obama Republican wave that crested over the South in 2010, is known for voting for tax cuts for the rich and corporations, and for opposing the landmark bill to rebuild America’s infrastructure, a measure sought and promised by every president since Ronald Reagan — including Trump, who could not get it done. The infrastructure bill passed both houses of Congress in bipartisan fashion in Joe Biden’s first year in office.

Congressional Passage of the $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is Huge

Crawford openly opposes the Supreme Court precedent-setting ruling upholding same-sex marriage as constitutional, and he supported Trump’s Muslim travel ban during the height of the Covid pandemic, which critics attacked as a racist act by the White House.

Crawford also engaged in the conspiracy to overthrow the legal results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump lost to Joe Biden, certified by Congress under the leadership of Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence as president of the Senate, on the night of Jan. 6, 2021, after the violent mob threatening to hang him was finally removed from the building by the Capitol and Metro police and the National Guard, when they finally arrived.

In December 2020, Crawford was one of 126 Republican members of the House who signed an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the U.S. Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election. The court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.

Crawford has also sponsored federal legislation that would have gutted legal protections for the environment and slowed efforts to take on climate change caused by global warming from the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation, in 2010 signing a pledge sponsored by the right-wing Americans for Prosperity to vote against any global warming legislation that resulted in an increase in taxes.

And he opposed legislation to allow veterans to collect benefits for being injured in battle, including Vietnam vets who were exposed to the highly toxic and deadly chemical Agent Orange, and toxic burn pits.

Crawford was an explosive ordinance disposal technician before being discharged in 1989, ending his four-year stint with the Army. He was elected to the House in 2010, the first Republican to represent Arkansas’ First District since the Reconstruction period following the Civil War.

Govens, the Democratic Party’s candidate in the First Congressional District, appeared alongside well-known Lonoke County farmer Robby Bevis, a Republican, on Saturday at the Railyard pavilion in Cabot in a “Rally For Decency” with Vote Common Good, a national faith-based nonprofit, and Vortex PAC, according to local coverage by the Arkansas Leader. (See video below)

Govens, a U.S. Army veteran who served as a communications specialist during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, was honorably discharged in 2005 after three and a half years of military service. He is running a moderate, solution-focused campaign, in a different town every day, studying the challenges facing the communities in his district. The First District comprises 31 counties, stretching from Boone County in northwest Arkansas eastward to the Mississippi River, and southward to the Arkansas-Louisiana state line. The district population totals about 750,000 people, and it voted largely blue until about 2010.

Arkansas congressional districts since 2023: NAJ screen shot from Wikipedia

On the trail and privately, Govens is known to resist labels and assumptions, saying every Arkansan deserves leadership that transcends partisan lines and loyalties. He pledges to represent all the people in his district by seeking out the needs and concerns of his constituents, and prioritizing solutions that help the people without regard to partisan political affiliations.

On the campaign trail, he’s answered many constituent complaints about Crawford’s chronic absenteeism by pledging to hold town halls every quarter in a different area of the district, once he’s elected. “Arkansas needs a Congressman who is accessible and accountable to his constituents every day, not just at election time,” he said, hinting at criticism of Crawford for rarely showing up back home in his state to personally tackle the needs of the people and instead hobnobbing in Washington, D.C. with radical, divisive MAGA Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Green, Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordon.

They are members of the so-called Freedom Caucus, which has been called the Dixie Caucus by critics, harkening back to the lost cause Civil War, that as we speak are once again threatening to shut down the government at election time by withholding votes on funding bills for strictly partisan demands.

Perhaps most egregious, Crawford is suing the federal government, taxpayers, which Govens has written and talked about. In his lawsuit, Crawford claims his Congressional salary of $174,000 is “unconstitutionally low” and seeks a retroactive cost-of-living raise with back pay not only for himself but for every current and former member of Congress going back decades.

“Crawford voted against the PACT Act, which allowed Vietnam era veterans to get the benefits for being exposed to Agent Orange and toxic burn pits,” Govens said. “He voted against the American Rescue Plan and the infrastructure bill. He says we can’t afford it.

“If we can’t afford those things, how can we afford to pay Crawford and his cronies a raise to over $200,000 plus back pay?”

That lawsuit, Govens said, is not what advocating for the people looks like.

“That is him advocating for his wallet,” Govens said — a charge that has often been leveled at Trump as well, for clearly and openly trying to use his government power and position to gain personal wealth, something that used to be considered unethical, even in Washington, until Trump came along and his MAGA movement took over the Republican Party.

In fact Marjorie Taylor Greene just visited the district to raise money for Crawford, and brought the radical, divisive partisan politics with her, locals contend who protested her visit.

“Campaign season is ramping up,” Govens said. “Nerves are at an all-time high, especially for incumbent Republicans. My opponent had his cohort from Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene, come down to Cabot and host a fundraiser.

“We want to present the good people of Arkansas accurately, and the hateful and divisive rhetoric, the weaponized chaos that Greene and the far-right extremists lead with is not a reflection of most Arkansans.”

“Politics has become divisive and we politicize everything,” Govens said. “How did we get to this point? You have to be able to live with your neighbors. They come in all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, religious beliefs and gender identities. At the end of the day, we are all Americans. We should all be paying taxes and be gainfully employed. That is the ultimate goal.”

There are 435 seats on Congress. Republicans now hold 220. Democrats hold 211. There are 4 open seats since New Jersey Democrat Donald Payne Jr. died in April and New Jersey Democrat Bill Pascrell died in August. Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher resigned in April. Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee died in July.

There are 100 seats in the Senate. The Republicans hold 49 of those, while the Democrats hold 47. But there are four independents. Independent Senator Angus King of Maine, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia caucus with the Democrats. Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona does not caucus with the Democrats, but is “formally aligned with the Democrats for committee purposes.”

See Video for More

The Common Good Podcast – Bridging the Political Divide to Rally for Decency

Marjorie Taylor Greene visited Cabot, Arkansas to spread conspiracy theories and divisiveness. Rodney Govens, a Democrat running for Congress in Arkansas’ 1st District, and his friend Robby Bevis, a well-known local Republican, decided to throw a Rally For Decency in response. Robb Ryerse sat down with Rodney, Robby and Corey Spangler, City Council member in Cabot, to talk about transcending the political divide in the name of decency and the common good.

* Source

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