30 Facts About Asa Hutchinson

William Asa Hutchinson II is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 46th governor of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Hutchinson to serve as the US Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, which covers most of Fort Smith.

In 1986, Asa Hutchinson unsuccessfully challenged Democratic US Senator Dale Bumpers, before losing a race for Attorney General of Arkansas to Winston Bryant four years later.

In 2006, Asa Hutchinson was the Republican nominee for governor of Arkansas, but lost to Democratic nominee Mike Beebe, the state attorney general.

In 2014, Asa Hutchinson was again the Republican nominee for governor, this time defeating the Democratic nominee, US Representative Mike Ross.

From 2020 to 2021, Asa Hutchinson served as vice chair of the National Governors Association.

At age 31, Asa Hutchinson was the nation's youngest US attorney.

In 1986, Asa Hutchinson ran against incumbent Democratic US senator and former governor Dale Bumpers.

In 1996, when his brother decided not to run for a third term in the House in order to seek the open Senate seat caused by the retirement of David Pryor, Asa Hutchinson ran for the seat and won.

Tim Asa Hutchinson won his campaign for the US Senate and served one term, losing his reelection bid in 2002.

In office, Asa Hutchinson compiled a voting record as conservative as his brother's.

In 1999, Asa Hutchinson was involved in the effort to reform campaign finance laws and offered an alternative proposal to the bill by Christopher Shays and Marty Meehan, which he opposed on the grounds that it "went too far" by attempting to ban television commercials by legal third-party organizations.

In 2001, at the beginning of the George W Bush administration, Hutchinson was appointed Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In early 2005, Asa Hutchinson founded a consulting firm, Asa Hutchinson Group, LLC, with partners Betty Guhman and Kirk Tompkins, in Little Rock, and accepted a contract for a one-year position with Venable LLP in Washington, DC, as the chair of its Homeland Security practice.

The news story noted that Asa Hutchinson was unable to touch his stock for another two years.

The six founding shareholders in Fortress America, in addition to Asa Hutchinson, included former US Representative Tom McMillen, former US Senator Don Nickles, and a private-equity firm that had former CIA Director James Woolsey among its partners.

On May 4,2006, Asa Hutchinson had filed a financial disclosure form he was required to submit as a candidate for governor.

Shortly after returning to Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson announced his candidacy for governor in 2006.

On November 16,2015, Asa Hutchinson said that he would block all Syrian refugees from entering the state in response to the November 2015 Paris attacks.

Under Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas resumed executions in 2017 after having executed no one since 2005.

In February 2019, Hutchinson signed a bill into law that would criminalize abortion in the event Roe v Wade is overturned.

In 2015, Asa Hutchinson signed into law legislation that would prohibit localities from extending civil rights protections to LGBT individuals.

In March 2021, Asa Hutchinson signed into law legislation that would allow doctors to refuse non-emergency medical treatment to LGBT people based on moral objection.

In December 2021, Asa Hutchinson praised President Joe Biden's COVID policies and thanked Biden for his efforts to "get the vaccinations out" and "depoliticizing" the federal COVID response.

In January 2022, Asa Hutchinson encouraged large businesses to not comply with the Biden administration's vaccine requirements.

In May 2022, Asa Hutchinson said he would consider running for president in 2024 even if former President Donald Trump ran again and that Trump's candidacy would not be a factor in his decision.

Toward the beginning of his campaign Asa Hutchinson distinguished himself as a Trump critic, calling for the former president to drop out of the race after being indicted by a New York grand jury.

The staffer, on behalf of Asa Hutchinson, requested that the RNC amend the debate requirements to accommodate Asa Hutchinson's concerns; the RNC rejected his request.

White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients later called Asa Hutchinson to apologize for the DNC's statement.

Days before the New Hampshire primary, Asa Hutchinson endorsed Nikki Haley.