Incumbent House captures District 89 race
Posted on Wednesday, November 5, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — State Rep. Jim House, D-Fayetteville, remained in the District 89 saddle after Tuesday’s election. He defeated Gene Long by 1, 325 votes.
With all 118 precincts in Washington County reporting, the unofficial results were: House................... 8, 236 Long.................... 6, 911
“I am pleasantly surprised,” said House, 60, a horseshoer who has held the seat for two years. “My opponent ran a tough campaign. I am pleased and happy and humbled to go back and serve for another two years.”
House campaigned Tuesday on horseback, hitting seven different polling places. He said he spent about 96 hours campaigning on horseback this fall.
Standing outside the Washington County Democratic Party’s watch party at the Fayetteville Town Center before the final results were announced, House visited with residents as they snapped pictures with his daughter’s donkey, Hercules.
“I’ve got a shovel in my trailer,” said House, who has been in politics long enough to know the tool could come in handy.
Gene Long of Springdale, House’s opponent, also spent Tuesday campaigning. Long, a Republican, owns Gene Long Agency, an insurance company with offices in Fayetteville, Rogers and Mena.
House asked voters to send him back for a second term because he is gaining seniority and has learned the ropes over the past two years in the state House of Representatives. He currently serves on the Public Transportation Committee; the City, County and Local Affairs Committee; and the Joint Committee on Public Retirement and Social Security.
During the next legislative session, House said he hopes lawmakers will cut the remaining 3 percent sales tax on food. Lawmakers cut 3 percent of 6 percent sales tax on food in the last session of the General Assembly. House said the initial tax cut resulted in a savings of $ 250 million for Arkansas citizens.
Two of the major issues before the next Legislature concern medical improvements, he said. One is the proposed satellite campus in Fayetteville for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, which will need between $ 3 million and $ 5 million per year in funding. The other is a statewide system for trauma care training.
After college, House spent 26 years working for the state Department of Health in Fayetteville. He was administrator of the Washington County Health Department from 1990-2000, retiring from state work at the age of 51 to shoe horses. House used his G. I. Bill money to attend horseshoeing school in Sperry, Okla. He’s been a farrier since 1974.
Long, 57, said the major campaign issues were taxes and education, and the state doesn’t have to raise taxes to improve education. State spending should be cut instead, he believes.
Long said he’s pro-life, believes in the sanctity of marriage and supports Second Amendment rights.
He also said Arkansas had a surplus in its budget last year, and that money should be given back to citizens who are struggling during this economic time.
Originally from Winnfield, La., Long spent six years in the Navy. He went to work in 1975 for State Farm Insurance in Monroe, La. He transferred to Fort Smith in 1981 and started his own business in Northwest Arkansas in 1997.
House said he expected the race to remain tight until midnight as an energy-charged presidential election brought plenty of voters to the polls.
“I don’t think I’ll be sure enough to call it,” he said. Information for this article was contributed by Evie Blad of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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