By Jonathan D. Salant
CQ Staff Writer
September 24, 1996
Arkansas Democrats finally have someone to run for the open 3rd District House seat that is being vacated by Republican Senate nominee Tim Hutchinson.
The Democrats' new champion is Ann Henry, a business professor at the University of Arkansas who previously served on the Fayetteville City Council. (Henry's husband, Morriss, is a former state legislator.)
Henry was selected at a 3rd District Democratic convention after the original nominee, lawyer Boyce Davis, withdrew. Several other well-known Democrats had declined to run, including state Sen. Lu Hardin, who lost the Senate nomination to Attorney General Winston Bryant in a runoff in June.
The Republican nominee is Asa Hutchinson, the incumbent's brother, who entered the race after Tim Hutchinson declared for the Senate. Tim Hutchinson was a last-minute replacement in the Senate race for Gov. Mike Huckabee, who gave up the Senate nomination when it became clear he would succeed Jim Guy Tucker as governor. (Tucker resigned after being convicted in a Whitewater-related court case.)
The 3rd District, which covers most of the state's northwest quadrant, has been held by the GOP for 30 years. It was the site of President Bill Clinton's first bid for public office; he took 48 percent against Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt in 1974.
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