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Ads from soft-spoken Arkansas Sen. Boozman reflect GOP fury
Two-term Republican Sen. John Boozman is known in Arkansas as a soft-spoken figure, but his reelection message seems to be taking a combative tone.
Politics
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – At home, two-term Republican Sen. John Boozman is known as an unassuming figure who talks almost in a whisper and is more comfortable chatting about policy or the University of Arkansas Razorbacks' football record than giving fiery speeches.
But you wouldn't know that if you turned on the television lately.
“John Boozman has always stood up to the gun-grabbing liberals of Washington," a local sheriff says in one Boozman ad. In another, fellow Republican Sen. Tom Cotton hails Boozman as “our conservative fighter." Boozman promises to finish building the wall along the U.S. border with Mexico that Donald Trump promised.
The sharper tone is Boozman's effort to deal with an awkward problem as he seeks reelection in a Republican stronghold that Trump won overwhelmingly two years ago: Conservative voters are restive with Trump out of power, and GOP candidates are expected to sound bristling mad about it.
Boozman said the ads are not inconsistent with his low-key style and that he is just focusing on concerns he is hearing from voters.
“These are the things that are on people's minds, so what we're trying to do is address those issues and help them understand we're at the forefront of working hard to get something done," Boozman said. “I'm not an individual that screams and hollers. I'm an individual that gets to work and gets results."
But ferocity just does not come naturally to Boozman. His more combative friends are rallying to help with that.
“He doesn’t draw attention to himself," Republican strategist Bill Vickery said of the 71-year-old eye doctor and former Razorbacks football player. “He sort of lets his record speak for himself."
In GOP-led states, even Republicans with seemingly safe seats are trying to ward off any perceptions they are insufficiently loyal to the former president. Such concerns already led Trump to withdraw his endorsement of Mo Brooks in Alabama's Senate race, and have driven him to back an effort to unseat Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in that state's primary.
Boozman has received Trump's endorsement along with the backing of top Republican figures in Arkansas. That includes Sarah Sanders, the party’s likely nominee for governor who was as Trump’s press secretary. Boozman also has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association and National Right to Life.
His chief rival in the May 24 primary is Jake Bequette, a former NFL and Razorbacks player who served in the Army and has appeared frequently on Fox News. Bequette's fundraising has paled in comparison to Boozman's, but he is backed by a super political action committee supported by shipping executive Richard Uihlein.
“I think in this political environment, the people of Arkansas and America First patriots around the country, they want conservative warriors,” Bequette said.