Democrat Rodney Govens campaigns for Congress in Pocahontas, Arkansas: Glynn Wilson

POCAHONTAS, Ark. – With less than two weeks to go before the Nov. 5 election, Democratic operative James Carville of Louisiana acknowledged the “palpable anxiety” out here in the wind of American life on Wednesday in a column in the New York Times.

While claiming he is not one to take part in the political prediction industry — recently ballooned by mysterious crypto investments engaged in legalized gambling and betting on a Donald Trump victory — Carville pulled his stool up to the political poker table to throw his chips “all in” in the final weeks.

“America, it will all be OK,” he said. “Ms. (Kamala) Harris will be elected the next president of the United States. Of this, I am certain.”

Let’s hope those are not “famous last words” from James Carville. I’ve always liked the Cajun SOB, since he got Bill Clinton elected president.

While we do not share Mr. Carville’s optimistic certainty exactly, there is something in the wind even on a beautiful October day in a small town in rural Arkansas, when an underdog candidate for Congress starts talking about historic victories.

“Once we get elected in November, this is going to be one of the most monumental upsets in political history,” Rodney Govens told a gathering of Democrats over hotdogs and chocolate chip cookies Tuesday in a local park.

It will not be enough to just win the White House in November. To effectively govern and move past the Trump MAGA era in American politics, the Democrats must win back at least nine seats in the House, and hold onto a slim majority in the U.S. Senate.

Why should it be so hard to imagine that one of those House seats could very well be in the First Congressional District in Eastern Arkansas?

Related Coverage: U.S. House Seat in Eastern Arkansas On the Line in 2024

When he was first recruited to run in the race by Dr. Chris Jones and his Vortex PAC, no one gave him much of a chance against incumbent Rick Crawford, an entrenched MAGA Republican Trump supporter, originally from Jonesboro.

But as Govens has made the rounds of the small towns and rural communities all up and down the Mississippi River, from the banks of the river in West Memphis and cotton country in the Delta around Jonesboro to the mountains in the north in Hardy and the west in Harrison, people have turned out to meet him, to hear what he has to say and responded by jumping on board his campaign.

“Rick Crawford hasn’t campaigned a day in his life,” he said, since winning the seat away from a Democrat in 2010 in the anti-Obama wave that crested over many Southern states back then, handing Republicans a super majority in red states from Alabama to Arkansas.

But Crawford has recently shown up to campaign this time, Govens said, after missing the first debate, so he must be worried about something.

Related:

Republican Congressman Rick Crawford Was a No Show at Arkansas State Debate

Arkansas PBS Debate Features Challengers to Incumbent Republican Rick Crawford

“I’m so happy to have Rick back home,” Govens joked. “He’s out campaigning. Why is he doing that if (this district) is Republican plus 31?” he asked. “If it’s Republican plus 31 it sure don’t feel like that.”

Govens pledged to be accessible to the people and to hold town hall meetings every quarter.

“You can come and tell me if I’m doing a good job,” he said. “Or cuss me out if I’m not.”

When a woman asked him to talk about his platform, one of the issues that often comes up is what to do about the migration situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, something that has been called “a crisis,” mainly by Donald Trump and other Republicans who like to use that as a campaign issue against Democrats. Never mind that many U.S. corporations are desperate for the cheap labor migrants provide.

Govens often talks about a fact-finding trip he made to Mexico back in the spring and what he learned from talking to asylum seekers and border patrol agents.

One of the facts unearthed in the visit was how the Obama administration had gotten a handle on the flow of illegal immigrants by using drones and other “smart technology.”

But what is not talked about much in national press and media coverage of the issue is how Trump changed border enforcement policy after he took over the White House by shifting billions of dollars of federal funding away from “smart, efficient border security“ or what was then referred to as a “smart wall” to his campaign promise to build a 30-foot high actual wall along the border, a wall that most experts say is still highly porous and is not working.

In fact, Trump transferred $3.8 billion in military spending to his “big beautiful wall,” which was supposed to be paid for by Mexico but never was. This included canceling funding for another eight MQ-9 Reaper drones for the Air Force to be deployed along the border, along with sensors and other smart technology and training for border agents.

Pentagon to divert $3.8 billion from its budget to build more of Trump’s border barrier

Border patrol agents told Govens the drone program had been working until Trump canceled it in favor of the wall.

“That program got cut to build that stupid 30-foot wall,” Govens says.

He also talks about making improvements to the foster care system and the veterans health care system, as well as standing up for women’s reproductive rights. And he advocates against using federal dollars allocated for public schools to be diverted for private, Christians schools.

“Public money should not be spent on private or home schools,” he says.

Everywhere he goes, people nod their heads in agreement and vow not only to vote, but to tell their friends about the campaign and get them to vote too.

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