Megan Godfrey | |
---|---|
Member of the ArkansasHouseofRepresentatives from the 89th district | |
In office January 14, 2019 –January 9, 2023 | |
Preceded by | Jeff Williams |
Personal details | |
Born | Megan Cardwell December 5,1983 |
Political party | Democrat |
Spouse | Daniel Godfrey (m. 2008) |
Children | Elizabeth "Zuzu", Jude |
Education | Loyola Marymount University (MA) University of Arkansas (BA cum laude) |
Megan Cardwell Godfrey (born December 5, 1983) is an American educator and politician who served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from the 89th district from 2019 to 2023. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Megan Cardwell was born to parents Cindy and Gary Cardwell on December 5, 1983. [1] The family moved to Springdale, Arkansas when she was 14. After graduating from Springdale High School, Cardwell attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, graduating with a major in Spanish and minor in Latin American studies. She was active in Associated Student Government [2] and was named homecoming queen at the University of Arkansas in 2004. [3]
Cardwell joined Teach for America after graduation and taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District until 2008. During this time, she also earned a master's in early childhood education from Loyola Marymount University. [4]
In 2008, Cardwell married Daniel Godfrey of Springdale [1] and returned to Springdale to raise her family. She worked at Springdale Public Schools as a teacher and ESL curriculum specialist. [5] Springdale is the largest school district in Arkansas and often has the highest proportion of ESL-students in the state, reflecting the diverse demographics of Springdale and the 89th district. [6] After nine years in Springdale, Godfrey took a position with Fayetteville Public Schools as Co-Director of English Language Learning.
In the general election on November 6, 2018, Godfrey narrowly unseated Republican State Rep. Jeff Williams by a final vote of 1,857 to 1,827 [7] (50.5%-49.5%). [8] She was the first Democrat elected to the House from Springdale since Louis McJunkin, who retired in 1999. [9]
As a member of the 92nd Arkansas General Assembly, Godfrey was in the minority as a Democrat. At the start of the session, Republicans had maintained a state government trifecta since 2015. Godfrey's signature legislation in 2019 was lead sponsor of Act 837, which grants nursing licenses to qualified nursing school students with a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status. [9] [10]
She announced plans to run for reelection in June 2019. [9] Unopposed in the Democratic primary, Godfrey won a second term in November 2020 against Republican challenger Jed Duggar, a son of former state representative Jim Bob Duggar of 19 Kids and Counting fame. [11]
Following the redistricting of House maps in 2021, Godfrey was drawn into a much more heavily Republican district that did not contain most of the area she already represented. She announced her intention to retire from the House and not run for reelection in 2022.
Washington County is a regional economic, educational, and cultural hub in the Northwest Arkansas region. Created as Arkansas's 17th county on November 30, 1848, Washington County has 13 incorporated municipalities, including Fayetteville, the county seat, and Springdale. The county is also the site of small towns, bedroom communities, and unincorporated places. The county is named for George Washington, the first President of the United States.
Springdale is the 4th most populous city in Arkansas, United States. It is located in both Washington and Benton counties in Northwest Arkansas. Located on the Springfield Plateau deep in the Ozark Mountains, Springdale has long been an important industrial city for the region. In addition to several trucking companies, the city is home to the world headquarters of Tyson Foods, the world's largest meat producing company. Originally named Shiloh, the city changed its name to Springdale when applying for a post office in 1872. It is included in the four-county Northwest Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is ranked 102nd in terms of population in the United States with 546,725 in 2020 according to the United States Census Bureau. The city had a population of 84,161 at the 2020 Census.
Fayetteville is the 2nd most populous city in Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, and the most populous city in Northwest Arkansas. The city is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington until 1829, the city was named after Fayetteville, Tennessee, from which many of the settlers had come. It was incorporated on November 3, 1836, and was rechartered in 1867. Fayetteville is included in the three-county Northwest Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is ranked 100th in terms of population in the United States with 576,403 in 2022 according to the United States Census Bureau. The city had a population of 99,285 in 2022.
Lincoln is a city in Washington County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,294 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Northwest Arkansas metro area.
Tontitown is a city in northern Washington County, Arkansas, United States. The community is located in the Ozark Mountains and was founded by Italian settlers in 1898. Known for its grapes and wines, Tontitown has hosted the Tontitown Grape Festival continuously since 1898. It is part of the Northwest Arkansas region, serving as a bedroom community for larger neighbors Fayetteville and Springdale. The town experienced a 160% growth in population between the 2000 and 2010 censuses.
Homer Martin Adkins was an American businessman and Democratic politician who served as the 32nd Governor of Arkansas. Adkins is remembered as a skilled retail politician and a strong states' rights proponent and social conservative who served as governor during a period when Arkansas departed from several national economic and societal trends. The Adkins administration fought federal influence in Arkansas during the post-New Deal era; successfully courting federal wartime production investment, during World War II, while battling the federal resettlement of Japanese-Americans in the state and Supreme Court civil rights decisions.
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.
Jim L. Holt is an American Baptist minister and a conservative Republican politician from Springdale in northwestern Arkansas.
James Robert Duggar is an American politician and television personality. He appeared on the reality series 19 Kids and Counting, which aired from 2008 to 2015. From 1999 to 2003, he was a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives.
Arkansas's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The district covers Northwest Arkansas and takes in Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Springdale, and Bentonville.
Highway 265 is a designation for three state highways in Northwest Arkansas. The southern segment of 19.70 miles (31.70 km) runs from Highway 170 near Strickler north to I-49/US 71/Highway 112 in south Fayetteville. A second segment begins in east Fayetteville at Highway 16 and runs north through Springdale to Highway 94 in Rogers. Further north, a third segment of 3.324 miles (5.349 km) runs from Highway 94 in Pea Ridge north to the Missouri state line. The highways are maintained by the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT).
Springdale Public Schools is the public school district for students of primary and secondary education in Springdale, Arkansas and surrounding areas. The district contains three high schools, four junior highs, four middle schools, eighteen elementary schools, and a school of innovation. Established in 1884, the district and its schools are accredited by AdvancED. It is the state's largest school district, with more than 23,000 students.
A total of ten special routes of U.S. Route 71 exist, and another ten previously existed.
Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is a daily newspaper in Fayetteville, Arkansas owned by Northwest Arkansas Newspapers and has circulation of 17,807 copies.
Joshua James Duggar is an American convicted sex offender and former reality television personality. The eldest of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar's nineteen children, Duggar and his family gained fame as the focus of the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, spun off from a series of television specials. Duggar served as the executive director of FRC Action, a lobbying political action committee sponsored by the Family Research Council, from June 2013 to May 2015. He resigned from the position after he was reported to have molested multiple underage girls, including four of his siblings, when he was aged between 12 and 16.
Lake Fayetteville is a reservoir of Clear Creek created by Lake Fayetteville Dam in 1949 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Bordered on the north by Springdale, the lake was created as a water supply for the City of Fayetteville, but now serves as recreational lake surrounded by residential neighborhoods and as a focal point along the Razorback Regional Greenway for cyclists and trail users throughout Northwest Arkansas.
Northwest Arkansas (NWA) is a metropolitan area and region in Arkansas within the Ozark Mountains. It includes four of the ten largest cities in the state: Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville, the surrounding towns of Benton and Washington counties, and adjacent rural Madison County, Arkansas. The United States Census Bureau-defined Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area includes 3,213.01 square miles (8,321.7 km2) and 576,403 residents, ranking NWA as the 98th most-populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. and the 13th fastest growing in the United States.
The 1937 Arkansas special senatorial election was held on October 19, 1937, following the death of longtime Democratic senator Joe T. Robinson. Robinson was a powerful senator, staunch Democrat, and strong supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was instrumental in passing many New Deal programs through the Senate. Arkansas was essentially a one-party state during the Solid South period; the Democratic Party controlled all aspects of state and local office. Recently elected Democratic Governor of Arkansas Carl E. Bailey initially considered appointing himself to finish Robinson's term, but later acceded to a nomination process by the Democratic Central Committee, avoiding a public primary but breaking a campaign process. Avoiding the primary so angered the public and establishment Democrats, leading them to coalesce behind longtime Democrat John E. Miller as an independent, forcing a general election.
Jay Richardson is an American politician who has been a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from the 78th district in Sebastian County since 2019.
There is a population of Marshallese people in Northwest Arkansas, concentrated in Springdale.
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