Tim Hutchinson

Young Timothy Hutchinson (born August 11, 1949) is an American Republican politician, lobbyist, and former United States senator from the state of Arkansas.

Personal life

Hutchinson was born in Bentonville in northwestern Arkansas, the son of John Malcolm Hutchinson, Sr. (1907–91) and Coral Virginia (Mount) Hutchinson (1912–98). He was raised on the family farm in nearby Gravette. He graduated with a B.A. from Bob Jones University and received an M.A. in political science from the University of Arkansas (1990).

He currently is a lobbyist and is a resident of Alexandria, Virginia. He is married to Randi Fredholm Hutchinson, an attorney in Washington, D.C. He was the first Republican to have been elected to the U.S. Senate in Arkansas since 1879.

Early political career

Hutchinson served in the Arkansas House of Representatives representing part of Fort Smith from 1985 to 1992. In 1992, he ran for the Republican nomination in after the popular 26-year incumbent John Paul Hammerschmidt announced his retirement. He defeated a fellow Republican state lawmaker Richard L. Barclay of Rogers, for the Republican nomination. He faced Democrat John VanWinkle, an attorney from Fayetteville, in the general election, and won by only 7,500 votes—a margin of five percent. He owed his victory to a 10,000-vote margin in his native Benton County. It was the second-closest margin in the 3rd, one of the most Republican districts in the South, which Hammerschmidt had represented since January 1967. The only closer race was in 1974, when Bill Clinton came within 6,300 votes of ousting Hammerschmidt. Clinton narrowly carried the 3rd in his successful run for President, a presumed factor in the closeness of the 1992 congressional race.

The district reverted to form in 1994, and Hutchinson was reelected with 63 percent of the vote.

United States Senator

1996 election

Hutchinson ran for the Senate seat being vacated by popular Democrat David Pryor in 1996. Initially, the leading Republican candidate was Lieutenant Governor Mike Huckabee. When Democratic Governor Jim Guy Tucker resigned after being convicted of mail fraud, however, Huckabee assumed the governorship and dropped out of the Senate race; Hutchinson entered soon after and captured the Republican nomination. He would face state Attorney General Winston Bryant in the general election. Even though native son Bill Clinton carried the state by a 17-point margin over Bob Dole in the presidential race, Hutchinson defeated Bryant 53%-47% in the Senate election, largely by running up the votes in his congressional district. He became the first Republican Senator from Arkansas since Reconstruction, and the first to be popularly elected.

Tenure

Hutchinson opposes abortion, supports tax cuts, supports de-regulation of the economy, supports the death penalty and a Constitutional amendment banning flag burning, opposes same-sex marriage, and opposes expanding hate crimes legislation. In 1998, Hutchinson joined two other Republican Senators, Bob Smith of New Hampshire and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, in opposing President Bill Clinton's nomination of James Hormel, an openly gay man, as United States Ambassador to Luxembourg. Hormel was later confirmed as ambassador in a recess appointment.

He served on the Armed Services Committee, Aging Committee, Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Veterans' Affairs Committee. He was one of 16 co-sponsors of the Iraq Resolution

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