State of Arkansas Archives: on Homeland Security

Curtis Coleman: Oppose unconstitutional activities by the NSA

4th Amendment and Privacy Rights: I will be a champion of our rights to privacy in the Senate. I will oppose unconstitutional activities by the NSA which invade our privacy and limit our rights. Source: 2016 Arkansas Senate campaign website, CurtisColeman.com Nov 11, 2015

Asa Hutchinson: In Arkansas we support our military bases and their missions

In Arkansas, we support our military bases and their missions. That is why we worked so hard to bring in the F-35 pilot training mission to Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith. This will be an economic boon for Western Arkansas for decades to come. Source: 2022 State of the State Address to the Arkansas legislature Feb 14, 2022

Blanche Lambert Lincoln: Seniority concerns shouldn’t outweigh intelligence decisions

LINCOLN: Reform of intelligence gathering, Lincoln said, “was not a battle between Democrats and Republicans as much as it was an argument over seniority. People in Congress who’d built up seniority over agencies in the committee system don’t want to see it changed.” In Iraq, Americans are going to have to accept the decisions Iraqis make themselves if they want Democracy to work there, Lincoln said.

HOLT: Holt said he trusts Bush’s decisions and recommendations when it comes to homeland security.

Source: AR Senate Debate in Arkansas News Bureau Oct 29, 2004

Conner Eldridge: Ensure stable military and VA funding

Conner's plan to support our Veterans and military families

Fix the broken Department of Veteran Affairs. Conner's plan includes building a more efficient and effective system, holding VA officials accountable and ensuring leaders have the ability to fire employees.
Expand and improve the "Veteran's Choice Act" to every Veteran in the country. A program that allows any Veteran the freedom to be treated at any hospital he or she chooses.
Expand job training opportunities and assistance for all Veterans.
Fight to ensure the "Post 9/11 GI Bill" receives full funding from our Congress.
End Veteran homelessness in America.
Ensure stable military and VA funding so that our troops and our veterans receive every benefit he or she is entitled to and aren't victims of a broken, dysfunctional Congress.
Stop the alarmingly high number of suicides among our troops and veterans by building bipartisan efforts to expand mental health treatment across our Armed Forces.

Source: 2016 Senate campaign website, ConnerForArkansas.com Aug 31, 2016

Curtis Coleman: AdWatch: Boozman voted to curtail civil liberties; I won't

Senate candidate Curtis Coleman launched a new video going after Sen. John Boozman. Coleman is a Republican challenger seeking Boozman's U.S. Senate seat.

In his video, Coleman attacks Boozman's voting record and calls it one of the "worst on record." He ties a number of Boozman's votes to President Barack Obama's agenda and said he "voted to curtail civil liberties."

"John is an incredibly nice person, but we don't need someone to go to the Senate to be Barack Obama's best friend. We need someone to be Tom Cotton's wingman," Coleman said.

Coleman mentioned in his video that Boozman got an "F" on his liberty score from Conservative Review. Wrapping up, Coleman said that if he gets elected, he'll be Arkansas' "pro-civil liberties" senator.

Source: Arkansas Matters AdWatch on 2016 Arkansas Senate race Nov 20, 2015

Dan Whitfield: Invest in the VA: education on bases for soldiers' children

22 veterans commit suicide every day in America, this issue should be at the top of all headlines. The VA does not work. We need to have both Veterans and Doctors come together to find a way to make sure our soldiers get the care they need when they come home. The funding for schools on military installations comes from the Department of Defense. If we can spend $740,000,000,000 a year on the military, we can afford to make sure our soldier's children are getting the best education possible. Source: 2022 Arkansas Senate campaign website DanWhitCongress.us Dec 6, 2020

Jake Bequette: Train military to fight great powers, not woke leftism

Bequette expressed concern that the politicization of the military could derail the armed forces' goal of fighting and winning wars. Bequette asserted that it was imperative to train the military with the mindset of "great power competition" with foreign governments, such as China, Russia, and North Korea. "We have to train our military with that perspective and focus, not these woke leftist ideologies that have no place on the battlefield or on the playing field,'' Bequette said. Source: FOX News on 2022 Arkansas Senate race Apr 22, 2021

Jim Holt: Trust Bush's homeland security decisions and recommendations

LINCOLN: Reform of intelligence gathering, Lincoln said, "was not a battle between Democrats and Republicans as much as it was an argument over seniority. People in Congress who'd built up seniority over agencies in the committee system don't want to see it changed." In Iraq, Americans are going to have to accept the decisions Iraqis make themselves if they want Democracy to work there, Lincoln said.

HOLT: Holt said he trusts Bush's decisions and recommendations when it comes to homeland security.

Source: [Xref Lincoln] AR Senate Debate in Arkansas News Bureau Oct 29, 2004

Leslie Rutledge: First-ever Military and Veterans Initiative at AG's office

Stood up for our servicemembers and their families by launching the first-ever Military and Veterans Initiative at the Attorney General's office.
Allocated $500,000 to the Gold Star Families Memorial at the Capitol grounds.
Allocated $750,000 to the Bowen School of Law to help create their Veterans' Legal Services Clinic which provides Pro Bono legal services to Arkansas veterans.

Provided the full startup cost of $170,000 opening 10 Veteran Service Source: 2021 Arkansas Governor campaign website LeslieRutledge.com Nov 21, 2021

Mark West: Military expansion results in international police

Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Expand the military"?

A: Oppose; our military can remain the strongest force in the world without being expanded. Our military expansion always results in our troops being the international police at our expense and has also led to the militarization of our police forces.

Source: OnTheIssues interview of 2018 Arkansas governor candidate Apr 28, 2018

Natalie James: Cut defense budget; move money to homelessness, education

[On budget priorities]: "If we don't take care of the actual people there's nothing left for us to take care of," James said in an interview before the primary. "So, we need to make sure that we have our budgets balanced first, and we need to get out of debt, second, but we also need to see where we're spending it so we can reallocate funds from different discretionary funds." She said moving money from the military budget would help with issues such as homelessness and education. Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on 2022 Arkansas Senate race Jun 5, 2022

Nathan LaFrance: Meta-data collection of phone records is unconstitutional

The US Constitution is clear--Americans have a right to privacy that cannot be violated by the federal government except upon probably cause resulting in a warrant describing the person, place or things to be seized.

Revelations about current NSA domestic spying programs, being run under the direction of the Obama Administration, have shown an almost complete disregard for our Constitutional rights.

Contrary to administration claims, large-scale meta-data collection of Americans' phone records is a violation of privacy. Through this meta-data, the federal government has access to a tremendous amount of personal information on innocent Americans, including who we speak to, how often we speak with people, where we are located when we make or receive calls and the duration of our calls.

New details continue to emerge on other NSA programs, such as email and internet monitoring. As Americans, we must stand NOW and fight for our rights. Nathan LaFrance will fight to reign in the NSA.

Source: 2014 Arkansas Senate campaign website, LaFrance2014.com Sep 30, 2014

Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Do every single thing to protect and preserve our freedoms

[On veterans rights]: "There is no greater representation of the greatness of our nation than its veterans."

"Good people do everything they can to protect the values of our communities, state and country," she said. "One reason I'm here is to say thank you. This is a special place for special people." She paused before adding how critical she believes it to be that we do "every single thing we can to protect and preserve our freedoms and pass them along to the next generation."

Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on 2022 Arkansas Governor race Jun 29, 2021

Tom Cotton: AdWatch: No sense of entitlement from serving in military

NBC News asked Pryor whether he thought Cotton's two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan were a qualification for running for the Senate. Pryor responded "no" but added, "I think that's part of this sense of entitlement that he gives off, almost like, 'I served my country, therefore let me into the Senate.' That's not how it works in Arkansas."

Cotton denied having any "sense of entitlement" from serving in the military, saying, "I certainly didn't learn one chasing after cattle on the farm. And the last thing my drill sergeant taught me was a sense of entitlement." Cotton said he joined the military after the Sept. 11 attacks and is a strong advocate for veterans, praising the intangible skills of vets like leadership to employers.

In attack ads, Pryor has accused Cotton of being too extreme, which Cotton countered with Pryor's support of the healthcare law: "The only that's extreme is casting the decisive vote for ObamaCare five years ago and still standing by it today," he said.

Source: Washington Times AdWatch on 2014 Arkansas Senate race Mar 10, 2014

Tom Cotton: Bring the Arsenal of Democracy roaring back to life

Our troops have been hamstrung by years of budget cuts and social engineering. It's time to rebuild an American military that's second to none. We need to reverse the Democrats' budget cuts, revive our shipyards and industrial base, and bring the Arsenal of Democracy roaring back to life. And we need to refocus our military away from liberal obsessions and back to defeating America's enemies. Source: 2026 Arkansas Senate campaign website TomCotton.com May 29, 2025

Tom Cotton: Regime change in Venezuela was great thing for America

Q: What does Pres. Trump mean by "We are going to run the country" about Venezuela?

COTTON: Well, who's not running Venezuela anymore is Nicolas Maduro. And that's a great thing, and it's a great day for America and for the people of Venezuela. Maduro was an indicted drug trafficker in U.S. courts. He was an illegitimate communist dictator. His drugs had killed thousands of Americans, and he was in league with anti-American countries around the world. When the president said the US is going to be running Venezuela, it means that the new leaders of Venezuela need to meet our demands.

Q: What do the US want?

COTTON: Our demands are that we want them to stop the drug trafficking & weapons trafficking, we want them to expel the Cubans and the Iranians & Islamic radicals. What we want is a future Venezuelan government that will be pro-American, that will contribute to stability, order, & prosperity, not only in Venezuela, but in our own backyard. That probably needs to include new elections.

Source: CNN SOTU interview on 2026 Arkansas Senate race Jan 4, 2026

Tom Cotton: Bring the Arsenal of Democracy roaring back to life

The above quotations are from State of Arkansas Politicians: Archives. Click here for definitions & background information on Homeland Security. Click here for other issues (main summary page).
*2024 Presidential contenders on Homeland Security:*
	*Candidates for President & Vice-President:* V.P.Kamala Harris (D-CA) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.(I-CA) Chase Oliver(L-GA) Dr.Jill Stein(D-MA) Former Pres.Donald Trump(R-FL) Sen.J.D.Vance(R-OH) Gov.Tim Walz(D-MN) Dr.Cornel West(I-NJ)	*2024 presidential primary contenders:* Pres.Joe_Biden(D-DE) N.D.Gov.Doug Burgum(R) N.J.Gov.Chris_Christie(R) Fla.Gov.Ron_DeSantis(R) S.C.Gov.Nikki_Haley(R) Ark.Gov.Asa_Hutchinson(R) Former V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN) U.S.Rep.Dean_Phillips(D-MN) Vivek_Ramaswamy(R-OH) S.C.Sen.Tim_Scott(R)
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Page last updated: Feb 07, 2026