Charlie Collins | |
---|---|
Member of the ArkansasHouseofRepresentatives from the 89th district | |
In office 2011–2019 | |
Preceded by | Jon Eubanks (moved to District 74) |
Succeeded by | Denise Garner |
Personal details | |
Born | Place of birth missing | November 30,1962
Political party | Republican |
Residence(s) | Fayetteville,Washington County Arkansas,USA |
Alma mater | Franklin High School (Livonia,Michigan) George Washington University |
Occupation | Businessman |
Charlie Collins (born November 30,1962) [1] is a businessman and Republican politician in Arkansas. Collins served four terms in the Arkansas House of Representatives for District 84,which encompasses part of Washington County near Fayetteville. In 2014,Collins briefly sought the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas. Following reelection in 2016,Collins sponsored legislation to allow anyone over age 21 to carry guns on college campuses and other public places. Controversial among the University of Arkansas community within District 84,Collins lost his reelection bid in 2018.
He graduated from Franklin High School in Livonia,Michigan. [2] He graduated in 1985 from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis,Maryland. He received a master's degree in 1986 in quantitative economics from George Washington University in Washington,D.C. [2] [3]
He started his career at Procter &Gamble in 1990 as a brand manager in Cincinnati,Ohio. He came to Arkansas in 1996. He later worked for Eastman Kodak as vice president of sales,as team leader at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club,and as vice president of the H. J. Heinz Company in Arkansas. [3] In 2005,he joined Crown Partners Executive Search,LLC,a recruiting and consulting firm. [3]
He has served as a state representative for District 84 since 2011 and he was re-elected in 2012 and 2014. [2] [4] The position was formerly District 89 and held by a Democrat Jim House,who Collins defeated in 2010. During his first term,he was a member of the House Agriculture,Forestry and Economic Development Committee,the House Revenue and Taxation Committee,and the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee,where he was vice chair of the Subcommittee on Educational Institutions. [2] In his second term,he is a member of the Legislative Joint Audit Committee,Insurance and Commerce Committee,and Chairman of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. [2]
He has also proposed a bill to reduce the state income tax. [5]
In the 92nd Arkansas General Assembly,Collins sponsored a bill to allow faculty at public universities (including the University of Arkansas within District 84) to use concealed carry handguns on campus as long as they have a Firearms license. [4] [6] The bill caused major debates on the state's open carry law and the Second Amendment.
Every public college opposed the bill, [7] including UA Chancellor Joseph E. Steinmetz. Gun advocates in the Arkansas General Assembly succeeded in expanding Collins' initial proposal to almost all public places,including the courthouses,bars,churches,and sporting events. [7] The expanded measure ultimately became law as Act 562 of 2017,with exemptions for sporting events,the state hospital,and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). [8]
Collins was unseated in his bid for a fifth legislative term in the general election held on November 6,2018. Democrat Denise Garner outpolled Collins by 1,440 votes,7,456 (55.3 percent) to 6,016 (44.7 percent). [9]
He is married to Leeann Collins,and they have two sons and two daughters. [2] They live in Fayetteville,Arkansas. [2] [3] He is a Protestant. [2]
Mark Lunsford Pryor is an American attorney, politician and lobbyist who served as a United States Senator from Arkansas from 2003 to 2015. He previously served as Attorney General of Arkansas from 1999 to 2003 and in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1991 to 1995. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Blanche Lambert Lincoln is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Arkansas from 1999 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, she was first elected to the Senate in 1998; she was the first woman elected to the Senate from Arkansas since Hattie Caraway in 1932 and youngest woman ever elected to the Senate at age 38. She previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Arkansas's 1st congressional district from 1993 to 1997.
Stephen Allen Womack is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Arkansas's 3rd congressional district since 2011. The district, which was once represented by former Senator J. William Fulbright, covers much of northwestern Arkansas, including Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Springdale, and Womack's hometown of Rogers. A member of the Republican Party, Womack was mayor of Rogers before his election to Congress.
G. David Gearhart was the fifth chancellor of the University of Arkansas. He succeeded John A. White on July 1, 2008, following 10 years of service to the university in his capacity as vice chancellor for university advancement. As chancellor, Dr. Gearhart instituted the first tuition freeze in 24 years and implemented a $220 million campus building renovation and refurbishment plan, as well as a campus-wide energy savings plan. He has also undertaken a renewed emphasis on the arts on campus, including the establishment of the “All Steinway Campus.” Under his leadership campus enrollment increased by more than 10 percent in two years, record research awards were recorded, and the university was reclassified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as RU/VH—“research university/very high,” the foundation’s top research classification.
Tim Neville is a former Republican member of the Colorado Senate from the 16th district. Neville was known for his hardline conservative stances on social issues, education and gun legislation.
Jerry Nathan Bell, known as Nate Bell, is an Independent politician from Mena in the U.S. state of Arkansas, who served three two-year terms in the Arkansas House of Representatives. From 2013 to 2017, he represented District 20, which encompasses Polk and Montgomery counties. From 2011 to 2013, he was the representative for District 22. He was a Republican prior to 2015.
Jeffrey Reed "Jeff" Wardlaw is a farmer from Hermitage in Bradley County in south Arkansas who is a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives for District 8, which he has represented since 2011. His district includes a portion of Bradley County, Drew County, Desha County counties.
Terry Wilfred Rice is an American politician and furniture and appliance store owner from Waldron, Arkansas. He has been a Republican member of the Arkansas State Senate for District 5, which include Scott and Sebastian counties near Fort Smith since January 2015.
Joseph Edward Jett is an American politician from the state of Arkansas. A member of the Republican Party since December 2016, Jett represents District 56 in the Arkansas House of Representatives. Jett switched parties shortly after winning reelection in 2016 as a Democrat.
Greg Leding is a Democratic politician who has represented the Fayetteville area in the Arkansas General Assembly since 2011. He served as minority leader in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2012 to 2014 and currently serves as minority leader in the Arkansas Senate.
Jake C. Files is a Republican politician from Fort Smith, Arkansas. Files represented portions of the Arkansas River Valley in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1999 to 2003, and in the Arkansas Senate from 2011 to 2018.
John R. Cooper, is a Republican politician from Jonesboro, Arkansas. He won a special election to fill a partial term in the Arkansas Senate in 2014, and was reelected in 2016. He lost his reelection bid in the Republican Primary in March 2020.
Brian S. King is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the Utah House of Representatives from the 23rd district. Before redistricting following the 2020 census, he represented the 28th district since January 1, 2009. In April 2024, he became the Democratic nominee for the gubernatorial election.
Robert Smith Moore Jr. is an American farmer and politician. He was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2013. He is a member of the Democratic party.
Will Bond is an attorney and Democratic politician from Little Rock, Arkansas. Born in Jacksonville, Bond studied political science at Vanderbilt University before earning a Juris Doctor at the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1995. Working as an attorney in Central Arkansas, Bond represented the Jacksonville area in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2003 to 2008. He was elected chair of the Democratic Party of Arkansas in 2011, serving until 2013. Bond served in the Arkansas Senate from 2017 to 2021. He lives in Little Rock with his wife Gabriel and their three children.
Danny Watson is a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, representing the 88th district. Watson defeated incumbent Democratic Representative Brent Talley in his failed reelection bid in the general election held on November 8, 2016. Watson began serving his first term in the 91st General Assembly on January 9, 2017 where he serves on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, the House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs Committee, and the Energy Joint Committee. He was elected to the 88th district on November 8, 2022 in the 2022 Arkansas House of Representatives election, and assumed office January 9, 2023.
Sarah Edith Sonneman Agee is an American politician who served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005.
Gary Stubblefield is an American politician. A Republican, he has been a member of the Arkansas Senate, elected from District 6, since 2013. He was previously a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, a quorum court, and a school board.
Bruce Alan Cozart is an American politician and businessman who has been a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives since 2011.
Gary Edwin Deffenbaugh is an American politician who served as a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2011 to 2023.