A CLOSE RACE How likely is a Republican take-
over? The Senate is currently controlled by the Democrats and their allies, 55-45, meaning a swing of six states would switch control to the GOP. The party that controls the White House often loses seats during the mid-term election of the president’s second term, when voters are ready for a change. Democrats entered the 2006 midterm elections during President George W. Bush’s second term with 45 seats and ended the campaign with 51 seats. Moreover, Republicans have a natural advantage during midterm elections, when their older and more affluent voter base is more likely to show up at the polls. Democrats also are defending 21 of the 35 contested Senate races this year, meaning they have a lot more to lose. Seven of those 21 seats, including Arkansas, were won by Mitt Romney in 2012. A Pryor win would be a shot in
the arm for the Democratic Party of Arkansas, which surely could use one. This time four years ago, Democrats controlled five of the six seats in Arkansas’ congressional delegation and both houses of the state Legislature. Those numbers have flipped: Republicans now control five seats in Congress and both houses of the Legislature, and they are already guar- anteed a majority in the state Senate after this election. No matter what hap- pens in the U.S. Senate race, Arkansas will remain a reddening state. It’s possible for the Republicans
to win the Senate without a Cotton victory, but it would be much harder. Arkansas is an easy target because it’s geographically smaller and ad buys are much cheaper. As a result, according to the Center for Public Integrity, as of Sept. 22, the candidates, the parties and independent groups had broadcast more than 40,576 TV ads during the cam- paign. According to Andrew DeMillo in an article for the Associated Press, the candidates and their supporters are spending around 7 dollars per voter in Arkansas, double the per-voter spending
ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 5 2014
“PROCEDURALLY SPEAKING, A POLITICAL CHANGE IN THE SENATE WON’T HAVE A TREMENDOUS IMPACT ON BIG TICKET ISSUES LIKE THE HIGHWAY BILL, LARGELY BECAUSE THE SENATE WILL REMAIN A
WORKING MAJORITY, NOT A VOTING MAJORITY.” —CHRIS SPEAR,
VICE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN TRUCKING ASSOCIATIONS
in the most expensive Senate races in Georgia and North Carolina. The race is very close, with various
polls showing each candidate in the lead. The website Real Clear Politics’ average of recent polls showed Cotton leading by an average of 45.8 percent to 42.2 percent, meaning it’s still close enough to be a toss-up. Traditionally, an incumbent polling below 50 percent at this stage is considered in serious trouble. However, political observers have questioned why Cotton has not been able to grab more of a lead given President Obama’s unpopularity in Arkansas. Four years ago, then-Rep. John Boozman, a Republican, defeated Sen. Blanche Lincoln, 58-37 in a land- slide. So far, Cotton hasn’t reached any- where near that level of support.
IMPACT ON TRUCKING Whether Senate committees are
chaired by Democrats or Republicans is less important to trucking’s national advocacy efforts than the actual Senators themselves. Naturally, as a Senate veteran with committee assign- ments pertinent to the transportation industry, Pryor has a much longer record than Cotton related to issues important to the trucking industry. In fact, last October Pryor was the honoree at the American Trucking Associations’ Truck PAC dinner at the Annual Management Conference and Exhibition.
Pryor serves on the Senate
Commerce Committee and the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, as well as on the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. With these appointments, Pryor has worked with the industry on a variety of issues during his tenure. Those issues include the use of electronic on board recorders, the creation of a national drug and alcohol clearing- house, long-term highway funding solutions, and most recently trying to delay the implementation of egregious hours-of-service provisions. Senator Pryor was the lead spon-
sor for legislation in the Senate to call for the creation of a Commercial Driver’s License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, which requires carri- ers to report failed drug tests and test refusals to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and to check with the clearinghouse when making new hires. Pryor also intro- duced legislation to mandate the use of electronic on board recorders in all commercial vehicles. Both of these measures were supported by the Arkansas Trucking Association and the American Trucking Associations. Both pieces of legislation were eventually rolled in to the highway
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