Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Hi, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Southern Fried Podcast, a production of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. I'm Rex Nelson, senior editor of the Democrat Gazette and we've got back to start a new year. The same person that closed the old year.
Well, we saved Skip Rutherford In Mr. Arkansas, as I like to think of him, the original political animal. I could go on. I've got all kinds of nicknames for you, Skip. I could go on and on, but we had him a couple of weeks ago.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: You and many others.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: They're all nice. They're all nice to review 2025 and now we're going to make predictions for 2026. So I'm going to start. Skip, this is an easy prediction and that is because of only token opposition.
Governor Sarah Sanders will be elected to another four term, four year term. But there is more of this prediction to come and that is that legislators from her own party will more and more stand up to the governor and it will not be an easy regular session next year. Now, this year is just a budget session. Regular sessions is when everybody can file anything.
And I had one veteran that you would know well of the state Capitol tell me that like we saw the honeymoon over really the last two years of Governor Hutchinson's term with the legislature. He said the honeymoon's already over with Sarah Sanders and he expects gubernatorial legislative relations to be rough for the next five years, for 2026 and another four year term.
[00:02:12] Speaker B: Well.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Can our state stand five years in which a legislature doesn't get along with the governor? I don't know, but that's my prediction. I think it's going to get rougher for even if she wins reelection to another term.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: I'll get back to that and I'll get back to politics before because. Because there's some, some races.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: In 2026 that are really worth talking about.
But my prediction, Rex, is that this is going to be a record breaking year for tourism.
And it couldn't happen at a more significant time because 2026 is the 30th anniversary of the passage of the 1-8-cent tax. Parks and tourism, game and fish and keep Arkansas beautiful. It has transformed Arkansas Tourism, $2 billion in revenues. It's transformed game and fish, our tourism product. People talk about the outdoors, the mountain bikes and all that. And that's fair. Good. But let me say the biggest thing about Arkansas tourism was that investment 30 years ago.
[00:03:28] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. And as you know, I'm very biased because it was one of the first big projects I worked on as policy and communications director in the governor's office took that job the day Governor Huckabee took took office on July 15th of 1996. We passed that, as you know, with less than 51% of the vote. But as you and I have talked about many times over the past three decades, it doesn't matter.
It's in the Constitution with 51%, just as much as it would be with 99%. And it's in there till somebody, till the voters of Arkansas repeal it. Unfortunately, there's been no movement to do that. So you're right. We have put in literally tens of millions of dollars into our state park system, into our hunting, our fishing, our other outdoor recreational opportunities. And I'm not going to disagree with you at all. I think it's going to be a great year for tourism in Arkansas. But as I also like to point out, it's not just. And we tend to base tourism numbers on people coming from out of state and spending money.
I like to point out it's also a quality of life amenity for those of us who live here.
It's not about just tourists. It's those of us who live here.
And that plays into economic development because more and more young, talented people are wanting to live in a place, Skip, as you know, where they're abundant outdoor recreational opportunities within a very short drive of where they live.
[00:05:08] Speaker B: You're exactly right. And I think the other aspect of it is that these folks fill our hotels and our restaurants, both in state and out of state. And when we travel, and you travel Arkansas probably more than anybody, you contribute to the economy of tourism by stopping at local restaurants and staying in local hotels, motels.
And so I really think that we have a product here, thanks to the 1.8cent.
And I think that, I think it, I think it's one of our big, big pluses for 2026.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: Absolutely. It was a good job by the Arkansas voters. Let me tell you something else, because I think this sometimes gets left out of the picture.
Another good job for the Arkansas voters. And I don't care whether you personally enjoy gambling or not, but creating those casinos, Skip, we're about to see Saracen opening its beautiful new hotel and conference center in Pine Bluff.
I wrote a series of columns at the end of the year about what Southland is doing in West Memphis. You take what Oakland's doing. We're into the race meet. You take what Oakland's doing in Hot Springs. And I think sometimes we forget that that was those three projects together.
A 1 billion with a B dollar investment into the Arkansas tourism economy that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. It's been massive for our state.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And you. And the great thing about. I totally agree.
And I can say I voted for it.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: Just like I voted.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: I'm glad for that vote. But I really do think what's wonderful about that is that while Hot Springs has always done well, was stagnant for a while, and it's, it's. And of course, Steve Harrison and all those folks at Oak Lawn have done a really good job.
But Pine Bluff and West Memphis, which two cities which needed help, have gotten it. And I give Southland credit. I give Saracen and Carlton Saffa credit.
Those are really great additions in communities that. That really needed a boost.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: And both of them now employ more than 1,000 people.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: It's just amazing. And I think in East Arkansas. Yeah.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: It's over 2,000 jobs between the two.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: That's right. And, and, and, and it's just great to see something very exciting, a new hotel, a great restaurant happening in Pine Bluff.
And what's going on in West Memphis? I mean, I think it's.
It's. We're just gonna have to sit back and watch.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: Used to be West Memphis. Used to be in the 50s, the fastest growing city in Arkansas. And now all of a sudden, it's coming back.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: As you know, I did a whole perspective cover on that back at the end of November. I mean, you've got Google about to spend 4 billion.
You're going to have an indoor water park.
This is a company that did a similar project at Grand Prairie, Texas, in the booming DFW area.
They've chosen West Memphis, it's called Epic. For their next facility, the second Bucky's in Arkansas. And believe me, that's a big deal. They employ hundreds of people. Will open in West Memphis after the one in Benton, so I could go on and on.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: And a new i55 bridge.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Which will bring over a thousand construction workers during that stage. Many of them will be staying and spending their money in West.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: That. Yeah, you bet.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: So, yeah, there literally is an economic boom in West Memphis, of all places.
And then back on the outdoor recreation end of it, we're gonna soon be seeing, you know, we're soon gonna be seeing lifts like ski lifts, but they're for mountain bikers. Up the side of Rich Mountain and Mena. And in Bella Vista, we are soon going to be seeing the opening of the Delta Heritage Trail with new bridges after converting old railroad bridges across the lower Arkansas and The White River.
I mean, we're really, we're really on the map now in the area of outdoor recreation, and that will only continue to grow.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think again, as we, as we look at that, it looks like maybe, hopefully that we've finally found a compromise to, to build the bike trail all around Little Rock to get over the, the hurdles with companies that didn't want the bike trail around. It looks like we're close to being there. You look back and you think, gosh, what a visionary Buddy of the Lions was with the big Dam Bridge, at the Clinton Park Bridge, with the Junction bridge, Two Rivers Bridge. You look at that and you think about the outdoor recreation in an urban area. I mean, just going across those bridges, just riding bikes and walking and going down to Two Rivers Park. I think in 2026, if I raise a glass of toast, I toast Buddy the lines.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: Yeah, there you go. All right, how about another one? Give me, give me another one.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Well, let me tell you another prediction that, that I am pretty excited about. And again.
And, and two of my friends, one in Mississippi County, Cliff Chetwood, and one in Little Rock, Patrick Schick, together with their talents. The steel industry continues to grow.
The jobs are continuing to come.
Last year, they announced a new plant in Mark Tree.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: Exactly. Just recently, of all places.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: And that's thrilling.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: I mean, again, this small delta town, that's big.
[00:11:21] Speaker A: You know, last year, High Bar, which is the new rebar plant, you took one of my predictions. But we'll get on the steel industry because it's huge for Arkansas, opened a $1 billion facility in Osceola. Now, Dave Stickler, who started that company, says he's going to open another one, may open two or three more. He thinks they may all be in Arkansas.
On the heels of that announcement, U.S. steel said it's going to build yet another facility. It owns Big River 1 and Big River 2, between Wilson and Osceola. It's going to build another facility there.
And I posted on social media, skip that. I would not at all be surprised now that US Steel is owned by. By Nippon Steel out of Japan. When that is all finalized at some point, I wouldn't be surprised to see the US Steel corporate headquarters move to Arkansas because these new, efficient plants, that's their future, not the old, basically rundown facilities in the industrial belt of the upper Midwest. Arkansas is the future of American steel.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: Well, and I think that, that. I think you're exactly right.
What, what is encouraging to me about 2026 is that we often talk About. And again, I'm not trying to slight anybody. We often talk about Little Rock and, and northwest Arkansas.
And again, they're. They're both holding their own, doing well. I'm not. I don't want.
But when you, when we're, when we get excited about Blytheville and Mark Tree and Pine Bluff and West Memphis, then we're all of Arkansas.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: And that's what is encouraging to me for 2026. Places that in years past that have not been at the top of the economic ladder are now beginning to thrive. And we hadn't even gotten to smack over and.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Well, let me do so. Let me do so. We predict steel will continue to boom.
So will the lithium industry. As we move from northeast Arkansas and steel all the way to the other side of the state, southwest Arkansas and lithium. The fact is that the Chinese still control most of the world's lithium supply.
If nothing else, it is a national security imperative. Skip that. We get more of the lithium supplied domestically produced.
And again, we talked about this last year when we did this show.
I want to warn people, don't expect something like the oil boom of the 1920s when smackover suddenly saw its population go from a couple of thousand to 25,000 almost overnight. This is not something that happens over eight to ten months.
It's something that happens over eight to ten years.
But you're going to see continued development of the steel industry. I mean, South Standard Lithium has announced its first processing plant. I will predict we will see further announcements from two of the biggest players in the energy industry as Exxon Mobil and Chevron, which now control the mineral rights to hundreds of thousands of acres, perhaps processing plants. But I think we will see big announcements from them in 2026. Doesn't mean the plants will be built in 2026, but we're going to see announcements that's going to continue to move forward.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: When you talk about Smackover and you talk about Camden and military contracts, again, places that have not been at the top of the economic spectrum all of a sudden are really being talked about for the future of Arkansas. And I think for 2026, broadening the economic base beyond central Jonesboro and northwest Arkansas is a really good thing.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I go back again to back up just a moment, but it's along these same lines. I go back again to what I was talking about with the casinos. I mentioned the new conference center and hotel opening in Pine Bluff at Saracen.
You know a lot of Arkansas associations and you've spoken to all of them as I have through the years, whether it's the doctors, the dentists, the law, they all like to move their meetings around. So they've really made good use of that new Red Wolf Convention center in Jonesboro which is wonderful, connected to an embassy suite. And they'll come to Little Rock, then they'll go to northwest Arkansas, to Hot Springs. They haven't been able to go to the southeast quadrant of the state 30, 40 years because there hadn't been a good hotel to really handle a big convention.
I think they will get in the rotation now and we will have major state conventions now in southeast Arkansas.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: I hope so.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: And that's a good thing.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: I hope so. Yeah, I think that's right. Let me tell you one of my big worries for 2026 and it's been happening in our earlier show a couple of weeks ago you talked about this the and I thought it's a very good point about the strong leadership we have on the college campuses.
And I agree with that. But let me go and say strong leadership is certainly an important factor, but the Arkansas legislature has not supported higher education.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: We've been starving higher ed for years now.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: And we've also it has become a political football, particularly after demonstrations, getting involved with, you know, Gaza and Israel and the, the all sorts of different political issues that you've now got the general public saying that Gallup poll, 63% say college is not worth it.
You've got even college graduates saying I'm not sure it was worth the cost for the first time, more pluses than minuses saying that. So I think we're in here, I think our colleges and universities are, it's something we have to watch because if we're going to continue to attract high quality talent to this state, if we're going to continue to grow, we need to have strong higher education and we need and I'm not saying college is for everybody, don't get me wrong. But I'm also saying that college is for a lot of people.
Enrollment's up.
But we're seeing now people take on an anti higher ed sentiment that worries me.
[00:18:34] Speaker A: You especially see it at the state capitol and it's awful. Absolutely. It is a whole anti intellectual sentiment out there and it's awful.
[00:18:44] Speaker B: And I think it's something that, yeah.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: You know, we as I is, I try to make the point, you know, you hear that, oh well, we don't need more college graduates. We need more plumbers and welders. No, we need all of the above in Arkansas if we're going to grow these, this economy, yes, we need more plumbers, yes, we need more welders. But you know what? We need a lot more people with bachelor's degrees. We need a lot more people with master, master's degrees. We need a lot more PhDs in this state if we're going to compete in the knowledge based economy of the 21st century.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: Well, if we're going to become, if we're going to become a headquarters for US Steel, if we're going to sustain companies like Walmart and Dillard's, which by the way are getting into mall purchases, which is an interesting new concept.
I think it's pretty interesting. But when you look at communities, and again, I think it's part of the economic thing, this is where I wish the governor of the legislature would, would tie these things together. I think jobs, quality of life and quality education are the three keys to revitalizing and maintaining this state. And so on the economic development side, getting jobs, recruiting these jobs, but you got to have quality of life. And you talked about that. From the outdoor recreation to the buddy of a Lion's bridges to the casinos to the Sultana Museum in Marion. I mean, there's just a whole bunch of things going on.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: But I also think you got to look at education and communities like where we grew up. Arkadelphia and Batesville have been so enriched by Henderson and Washington. College towns and Lion College.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: College towns are different.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: They're just, they're enriched and we need to sustain and grow those.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. Preaching, preaching to the choir there, Skip. Again, we've been starving higher education in our state for years and we've got to do better.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: And I'm afraid, Rex, that it's becoming politically popular to starve higher ed.
[00:20:47] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: And I think, I think that's very short sighted.
[00:20:52] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
Well, I tell you, my main worry going forward about public policy in Arkansas is that nationally you're seeing people start to move away now. I mean, thankfully Donald Trump is already a lame duck, but we're about to give a MAGA governor another four year term.
And so counting this year, that's five more years of somebody who's trying to turn Arkansas into a MAGA colony.
And we're still going to be stuck there, Skip, after the rest of the country has moved on. Well, Donald Trump will be out of office and we'll still have a MAGA governor in Arkansas. Well, when the rest of America's moved on, what does that do?
[00:21:45] Speaker B: Well, for economic development again, let's let's just hope that the governor and the legislature are not so much under the influence of Donald Trump, but turn more to being a governor in the spirit of Mike Beebe and Asa Hutchinson and Wynne Rockefeller.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: If that were going to happen, we would have seen it by.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: Well, let's hope, let's don't give it up. Let's don't give it. I know I have, I have it. But so, but I'm still hopeful because we got so many challenges in this state over the next four years that I'm hoping, given the budgetary issues, given higher education issues, I'm hopeful that, that, that this state can, can, that we can restore that great tradition of governors.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. All right. I'm going to throw out another prediction we've been talking about. We're glad to see things happening in northeast Arkans southwest, but we go back to our boom area of northwest Arkansas.
And I think largely spurred by Alice Walton investments. But there are others going to get involved. I think you are going to continue to see northwest Arkansas move forward as a healthcare hub. And I think that is a wonderful diversification for an area of the state that obviously already is doing very well. But I was in last year, Skip, back in August, I was on the campus of the Alice Walton School of Medicine. The acronym awesome. Isn't that a great acronym? You got to love that game. I was at AWESOME on the day of the white coat ceremony and it was really neat to see a new medical school opening in Arkansas. At the same time the whole health Institute, which is a think tank, was opening. They're both on the Crystal Bridges campus. But as you've probably read, Alice Walton has now purchased about 100 acres over next to Interstate 49. And they've of course made a long range agreement with the Cleveland Clinic. They're going to start opening clinical services now.
And I just think that's, that's going to continue to grow and it's great for all of Arkansas.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: It is.
[00:24:16] Speaker A: That would become perhaps at some point a nationally recognized health care hub also.
[00:24:22] Speaker B: Well, and remember why it's good is that Arkansas is still in the bottom tier of health.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: We got a long way to go to get in the top 25. We're in the bottom 40s now. We've got some good medical facilities. And I think you and I are blessed living here in central Arkansas to have high quality medical facilities that our children, our grandchildren, our family members can access.
And I think folks in northwest Arkansas and I like what's happening in Jonesboro.
But we've got to look even deeper than we got to look at telehealth. We got to look at rural health. These rural hospitals are in trouble.
We. So yes, the more doctors and specialists that are educated in Arkansas and that hopefully will stay in Arkansas, it's a good thing. So I give all that credit.
I'd love to see more outreach to the rural areas because I think when you try to move the healthcare needle, we've got to, we got to do more and hopefully this new facility that, that, that Alice Walton and others and you and I give Lowry Barnes credit at uams. I think Larry's doing a great job in his interim role.
[00:25:42] Speaker A: Of course, you know, we have seen and they're already expanding. We've seen Arkansas Children's build a separate campus in northwest Arkansas.
I was up there with UAMS officials last year and saw the land they had purchased right on i49. Now, it's not going to be announced in 2026. This is still long range, but with that population growth, I expect UAMS to probably have a whole new on top of what it's already doing there, a whole new medical center at some point in northwest Arkansas. It goes back to the healthcare boom there, along with what Alice Walton's doing A little further north, ums would be near Springdale on the inner or near Rogers on the interstate. And then Alice is a little close further north in Bentonville along the end.
[00:26:34] Speaker B: Well, and I think that's right. And as I've said about northwest Arkansas, if it, you know, we're three hours away. I mean, people act like it's us versus them. It's like Little Rock, we're a small state.
[00:26:47] Speaker A: We're only 3.1.
[00:26:48] Speaker B: I think the challenge.
[00:26:49] Speaker A: We're all together.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: I think the challenge they have. And I want to talk about the challenge Little Rock has, but I think the challenge northwest Arkansas has is that they're growing so fast they're outgrowing their infrastructure. And you're going to have to invest in water, sewer, roads and other amenities. They've built a great airport, they've built great education system.
But let me tell you, water and sewer projects are hard to pass and they need it. And they need it.
[00:27:18] Speaker A: That's a great point.
You got another prediction for Little Rock?
[00:27:22] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, Little Rock.
There won't. Communities got to take care of themselves. You can't just expect it. And Little Rock is going to have to get its act together and come to grips. Probably not in 2026, but to plan in 2026 for 2027.
It needs an infrastructure tax.
It needs roads and police, fire, highways, emergency services. Little Rock is going to have to step up. And unfortunately I always say if someone said to me, you know, Little Rock is now become a gerontocracy where older politicians and I think there's a time to retire, and I did.
I think Little Rock's going to have to look to the future rather than talking about what happened in the past.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: All right, you've got one on Little Rock. Our largest city. Let me go to our second largest city's Fayetteville. Let me go to our third largest city, Fort Smith. We talked about this last year.
The fighter mission is going to continue to grow. That's my prediction for 2026. We've already seen an official announcement now from Singapore that it will have a permanent mission there. At least 400 personnel with both F35s and F16s. That's in addition to the training missions that we're doing for all of the other countries that are American allies that are going to be sending their F35 pilots to Fort Smith to be trained.
That impact on that part of west Arkansas.
And I've said this for several years, but I spent a few days up there back in the summer and I believe it now more than ever. It's going to be bigger than people think. Tim Allen, who heads the Chamber of Commerce in Fort Smith, told me that Lockheed Martin, which makes the F35 already has more than 100 permanent people there just to do maintenance for work.
That they have moved in high paying jobs and that now he is getting inquiries from defense industries all over the country about maybe coming to Fort Smith. I think you're going to see it become a defense industry hub and our old manufacturing center, which when, you know, they lost all those jobs a few decades ago to overseas, we thought, well, it's over for Fort Smith.
My prediction is you're going to see it more and more in 26. I think there's a new golden era coming for Fort Smith, Skip, and I hope there is.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: I hope you're right because I think Fort Smith sometimes gets left out.
They get left out from the Little Rock media.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: They do. From the Little Rock media. It's almost like it's part of Oklahoma.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: It'S our third largest city and northwest Arkansas leaves it like a stepchild.
[00:30:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:24] Speaker B: And so I hope so, and I hope that's the case. I hope you're right.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: Good people there and they're working.
[00:30:31] Speaker B: They've got some good people they do. I agree.
[00:30:34] Speaker A: And by, by the way, folks, if you've yet to be to the U.S. mark, go to the U.S. marshals Museum on the riverfront in Fort Smith. You've got to do so. Another truly national class, world class attraction for Arkansas. Very well done.
[00:30:49] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that's one of the things that, that I would like to see.
Parks and tourism, I know they're promoting all the outdoor biking and all that and I think. But I think they need to do a major campaign about the museums and the, and the, and the facilities in this state.
[00:31:07] Speaker A: Well, you touched on them and you mentioned Sultana, which is going to be opening in 2026 over in Marion.
Just did a column on it. It's going to be beautiful. We've got the fundraising going on for the Cold War center in Blytheville.
[00:31:23] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:31:24] Speaker A: Which again could be if they can raise those $60 million. Not easy. But they've got a world class director from the Wilson Institute now in place full time. I think they'll get there and I think that'll be another very big attraction for Arkansas in the same way that Crystal Bridges is a big attraction.
[00:31:44] Speaker B: Bringing people in by bringing those up. You point out correctly. Again, this is where I, I think parks and tourism needs to get on a major campaign for our museums, for our museums and cultural sites. I agree that I think we need to, I think that ought to be a 2026 goal.
[00:31:58] Speaker A: Yeah. You got one more. We're about out of time again.
[00:32:00] Speaker B: Well, I think the other thing that I think in 2026 is that you're going to see back to politics, some state senate races where the governor and her team are trying to, to defeat some incumbents who have not been necessarily.
[00:32:21] Speaker A: Supportive of her, have not saluted enough.
[00:32:24] Speaker B: Well, I don't know about that, but very active. And that is the Ron Caldwell BO dirt race in East Arkansas. You got Blake Johnson and Jeremy Wooldridge.
Blake Johnson, who has been supportive of her, but Jeremy Wooldridge is running. That's going to be a very good race.
So you've got some really. And then you've got the Brian King Bobby Ballinger Jr. Race in Northern Arkansas, Huntsville, Eureka Springs and Franklin county where the prison will be a big issue. So there's some really interesting local campaigns. You got a sheriff's race in Lonoke County.
That's, that's going to attract national attention.
You've got, you've got a contested race for county judge in Pulaski County. That's going to be interesting. So there's some, there's some local things in March of 2026. I know you think it's too early.
[00:33:24] Speaker A: Let's get those primaries back to May. March is too early.
[00:33:27] Speaker B: I know, but you don't want to.
[00:33:29] Speaker A: Be out there campaigning in the winter. People aren't paying attention.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: But you have to admit there are going to be some good at local elections.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:34] Speaker B: I mean, I mean, which makes for an exciting. For those of us that like politics, it'll make for an exciting 2026.
[00:33:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I'll go back to where I started the program. I think you will see more and more legislators and these. I'm talking about Republican legislators. Stand up to the governor and say, enough. We're going our. Going our own Way in 2026. We'll see.
See. But the group that I call the Cowards, hopefully it'll be a bit smaller in 2026 than it was in 2025. Skip, thank you.
[00:34:10] Speaker B: Always a pleasure.
[00:34:11] Speaker A: Happy New Year.
[00:34:12] Speaker B: Yeah. And have a great 2026. And I'll call you on primary night and say, I know it's March and I know you want it to be in May, but it's still an exciting election night.
[00:34:23] Speaker A: All right. Skip Rutherford, I. Our guests. I'm Rex Nelson. Thank you for joining us for another edition of the Southern Fried Podcast, a production of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
