Senator Tom Cotton is a big fan of the Iran War, ICE, and Trump. But now Republicans are scrambling, spending 65 times more than Democrats on ads, and worried that the economy could cost them this seat.
Video by Beth Meadows and Ian McKenna
GARY JOHNSON, NORTHWEST ARKANSAS DISTRICT FAIR ATTENDEE: I’m really upset with our president. You know, he was for the farmers, supposedly. And he’s let them hang out to dry, pretty much now.
BETH MEADOWS, MORE PERFECT UNION: It’s been 9 months since . . .
TRUMP CLIP: …major combat operations in Iran…
MEADOWS: And the entire country has been suffering the consequences.
NEWS ANCHOR CLIP MONTAGE: Gas prices here in the U.S. hit a new high. Oil prices are soaring. Airlines hiking their ticket prices. Diesel is skyrocketing. Putting food on your table through the fall and the winter hinges on what happens with this war right now.
MEADOWS: But people here in Arkansas have even more reason to complain.
MARGARET HOOVER, PBS NEWS ANCHOR, CLIP: We turn now to Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton.
HOOVER, TO COTTON: You have long been defined as a hawk on Iran.
COTTON, ON CNN: The answer to most questions in the Middle East is Iran.
COTTON, TO HOOVER: Two strikes: The first strike and the last strike.
COTTON AT 2015 THE CONSERVATIVE POLICY SUMMIT: Let us not join our ancestors in being asked by future generations: Why didn’t they do something?
MEADOWS: Tom Cotton has held this Senate seat for 11 years but a shocking poll showed Democrats might actually have a chance at it this year.
MSNOW CLIP: The race for U.S. Senate in deep red Arkansas has unexpectedly become much more competitive.
MEADOWS: Cotton’s donors are spending millions on ads . . .
PRO-COTTON PAC ADVERTISEMENT: Tom Cotton is for you.
MEADOWS: …and he’s back up in the latest polling — but it seems like anything could happen in Arkansas this year.
VELMA, ARKANSAS RESIDENT: I feel like he might get beat this time.
MEADOW TO CLYDE BOWLING, NORTHWEST ARKANSAS DISTRICT FAIR ATTENDEE: Would you vote for him again?
BOWLING: Not now.
JOHNSON, TO MEADOWS: We need different legislators.
MEADOWS: We talked to the Democrat and sixth-generation farmer taking on Tom Cotton — HALLIE SHOFFNER.
HALLIE SHOFFNER, ARKANSAS DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE, TO MEADOWS: Tom Cotton has wanted to go to war with Iran for 15 years. He finally got the war he wanted. We are paying the cost.
MEADOWS: The question is: Are things bad enough in this deeply red state to flip a Senate seat? That’s what we’re here to find out.
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