LITTLE ROCK—John McCain’s first swing through Arkansas as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will help him build inroads in the state as its adopted political daughter, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is caught in a prolonged battle for the Democratic nomination, supporters and party leaders say.

McCain will visit Little Rock on Friday for a fund-raiser with one-time presidential rival Mike Huckabee and former congressman Asa Hutchinson. The Arizona senator will also appear at historically black Arkansas Baptist College, his campaign said Wednesday.

McCain comes to a state where he finished second in the Feb. 5 presidential primary to Huckabee, who served as Arkansas’ governor for 10 1/2 years. Whether he can win the state depends partly on whether he’ll face Clinton, the state’s former first lady who overwhelmingly won Arkansas’ Democratic primary.

“It really all depends on who the nominee is on the Democratic side,” McCain spokesman Jeff Sadosky said. “Obviously Sen. Clinton has some pretty strong poll numbers in the state right now. But it’s a state that has shown support for Sen. McCain and with Gov. Huckabee’s support it’s a state we feel we can do well in.”

Clinton, who served as the state’s first lady for 12 years while her husband and former president Bill Clinton was governor, won 70 percent of the vote in the Arkansas Democratic primary. In the Republican primary, McCain won 20 percent of the vote to Huckabee’s 60 percent showing.

The key to Arkansas for McCain may be Huckabee, who dropped out of the presidential race last month after McCain won enough delegates to secure the Republican party’s nomination. Since dropping out, Huckabee has formed a political action committee to support McCain and other Republicans.

Sarah Huckabee, the former governor’s daughter and executive director of his PAC, said her father plans to play an active role in helping McCain win over the state.

“He wants to help Sen. McCain get elected and do whatever he can to help him,” she said. “Obviously Arkansas is a place he knows very well. He knows how to win in this state. And he knows how to transfer people who were Huckabee people over to McCain people.”

McCain will have to win over conservatives who are wary of the presumptive nominee for his past stances on immigration, tax cuts and campaign finance reform. Among them is Rep. Rick Green, a legislator who’s been pushing for stricter immigration reform at the state level.