Arkansas has never elected a Black member of Congress. Chris Jones could change that
TheGrio...
The physicist, nonprofit executive and former gubernatorial nominee is running a competitive campaign against Republican Rep. French Hill.
As Election Day nears, Black history is within reach in a very competitive U.S. House race in Arkansas.
In Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District, Democratic nominee Chris Jones is campaigning hard to flip a congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. French Hill, a Republican congressman whose party has grown increasingly unpopular as a result of President Donald Trump‘s policies and GOP leadership in Washington, D.C.
“It’s the time to acknowledge the pain and acknowledge who’s at fault for the pain,” Jones tells theGrio. The physicist and nonprofit executive says that Trump has broken his promises to voters in Arkansas–failing to bring down prices and keep the United States out of war–and believes it presents an opportunity for Democrats to see wins not seen in the state in nearly two decades.
“Folks are realizing the border shut down, immigration is at zero. You fired over half a million Black women. You fired Black folks and and people of color, and gas prices are still over $4. Diesel prices [are] still over $6,” said Jones, criticizing Trump’s political crusade against immigrants and diversity, equity, and inclusion, which the president repeatedly blamed for the nation’s economic struggles.
Speaking to struggles of Arkansas’ farming industry, the congressional candidate continued, “When you got ready to sell your heads of cattle, he still made a deal with Argentina to undercut you. He’s taking us into foreign wars, spending $2 billion a day. So all those things [voters] realize they’re paying.”
If elected on Nov. 3, Jones would become Arkansas’ first Black member of Congress. The state would become the last Confederate state to do so. Interestingly, the Morehouse College and MIT-educated former NASA intern would too become the first member of Congress to also be an ordained minister and rocket scientist.
But if Jones is victorious in less than two weeks, he belives it will be because of his years-long commitment to engaging with Arkansas voters since losing the 2022 gubernatorial election against now-Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Noting a “backlash” to former President Barack Obama in Arkansas following his first term in office, Jones notes that Democrats have seen a series of losses in gubernatorial, congressional and Senate races dating back to 2011.
“Democrats did not invest consistently, did not show up consistently, did not campaign consistently and stand on the values,” said Jones. “The policies we know help working class families. The policies we know help give people a ladder out of poverty. The policies that actually spurned innovation and entrepreneurship.”
After his 2022 loss, Jones said he’s been doing what Democrats have failed to do in recent decades by showing up during off-election seasons.
Since launching his campaign for Congress, Jones said he’s held dozens of town halls in each of Arkansas’ eight counties. By contrast, he said his opponent, Rep. Hill, has held “one or two” town halls and private meetings.
“Showing up for folks is something we can control, and in doing that, we sort of get our people fired up, and we break the narrative for those who normally wouldn’t be on our side,” said Jones.
As public polling shows Trump and Republicans losing the confidence of voters as affordability becomes more out of reach, Jones said he sees “something in the atmosphere” in across the U.S. South that could deliver unexpected wins for Democrats not seen in a generation. The Democratic nominee said he especially sees that energy for Black candidates running for office in the South.
Black and brown candidates have historically been “underfunded,” said Jones, however, he added, “There’s a tenor shift that’s happening.”
Jones says Trump’s war in Iran, tariff policies and signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which made historic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP food assistance, are helping to change the political environment.
“Congress has been feckless, and they have not responded,” said Jones, who called out Congressman Hill for not standing up to Trump’s relatiatory policies that are driving up costs.
“[He] voted five times to let the tariffs keep going. He voted to let the president stay in his war,” he said.
If elected, Jones wants to work with Democrats in the next Congress to establish a billionaire tax, create tax cuts for the middle class and give Americans a “real ladder out of poverty, and not a cliff.”
“Republicans and my opponent get excited about creating one trillionaire. I get excited about creating a million millionaires,” Jones told theGrio. “Same money, but the way it circulates in the economy is vastly different.”
Unlike the usual snail pace of Congress in passing legislation, Jones said Democrats must move swiftly if they win power in November. He added, “Project 2025 did not wait, and so the next Congress also cannot wait.”