Leslie Rutledge
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said Tuesday that she’s dropping out of the race for governor and will seek the lieutenant governor’s office instead.
Rutledge had been vying against Sarah Huckabee Sanders for the Republican Party nomination. Sanders, a former White House press secretary for Donald Trump, has vastly out-raised Rutledge since entering the race in January and been widely considered the frontrunner.
Rutledge’s exit leaves Sanders as the only Republican seeking the party’s gubernatorial nomination. Rutledge endorsed Sanders Tuesday evening.
“Thank you @SarahHuckabee!” Rutledge said in a tweet. “Look forward to working with you my friend.”
In a statement first reported by Talk Business & Politics, Rutledge said she had been “blessed by an outpouring of support from Arkansans in every community” since joining the governor’s race in July 2020.
“At this crossroads in our country’s history, now is a time for Christian conservative leaders to unite and fight together against those who wish to destroy the America we know and love,” she said. “Today, I am announcing my campaign for Lt. Governor of Arkansas.”
On Twitter, Sanders thanked Rutledge for “her leadership.”
“I look forward to uniting Arkansans behind my vision to grow our economy and create high-paying jobs, increase access to quality education, and deliver bold, conservative reforms that take our state to the top,” her tweet said.
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson is term-limited and cannot seek reelection.
In a poll conducted by Remington Research Group of Missouri and released on Oct. 28, Sanders held a 57-point lead over Rutledge in the GOP primary.
The poll of 800 likely voters conducted from Oct. 25-26 showed 73% of respondents saying they would vote for Sanders, 16% saying they would vote for Rutledge and 11% saying they were undecided. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%.
Sanders, the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, in October reported raising $2.2 million in the most recent quarter, bringing her total haul to more than $11 million. Rutledge reported raising more than $190,000, bringing her total to $1.6 million.
Rutledge was first elected attorney general in 2014 and won reelection in 2018. She’s now the sixth candidate seeking the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor. The state’s current lieutenant governor, Republican Tim Griffin, is seeking the GOP nomination for attorney general next year.
Candidates in the Republican race for lieutenant governor are attorney Chris Bequette, state Surgeon General Greg Bledsoe, former state Fair Housing Commission Executive Director Leon Jones Jr., state Sen. Jason Rapert, former state GOP Chairman Doyle Webb and Washington County Judge Joseph Wood.
Democrats in the race are attorney Jesse Gibson and foster families advocate Kelly Krout.
Democrats running for the governor’s office are teacher Anthony Bland, former Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub Executive Director Chris Jones, businesswoman Supha Xayprasith-Mays and small-business owner James “Rus” Russell.
Other the Democratic candidates, only Jones has reported raising significant amounts of money, having surpassed the $1 million-mark during the third quarter.
Libertarian Ricky Dale Harrington Jr., a previous candidate for U.S. Senate, is also running for governor.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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