Former Texarkanian and Arkansas GOP gubernatorial candidate Jan Morgan outlined her populist primary challenge of Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday during a meeting of Miller County Republicans at New Haven Golf Club.
Morgan framed Hutchinson as a Republican in name only who has betrayed the voters who elected him, and she portrayed herself as the genuine alternative.
"He is an establishment RINO. I am a constitutional conservative. There's your line," she said.
A Hot Springs gun range owner and Fox News/Fox Business Network analyst, Morgan declared her candidacy New Year's Eve. The Republican primary election is May 22.
On Tuesday, Morgan recounted confronting state lawmakers and Hutchinson regarding gun rights, her signature issue. During a 2017 hearing of the state House Judiciary Committee, Morgan spoke against a measure that would have exempted certain areas from allowing concealed carry of firearms under certain circumstances. A video of her testimony is available on YouTube.
"My goal was to raise a big enough stink that the media would pay attention," she said, adding that at a later meeting with Hutchinson, she reminded him of the Arkansas constitution's firearms provisions. Morgan made headlines in 2014 by declaring her gun range a "Muslim Free Zone."
Morgan touched on several standard conservative goals-such as smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation and school choice-often returning to attacks on Hutchinson as too liberal and beholden to favored corporate interests, rather than responsive to the people.
The government should do nothing regarding health care and education, leaving them to the free market and the people, Morgan said. She said on her first day in office she would eliminate the governor's discretionary fund, which she described as a means to redistribute taxpayers' money to Hutchinson's friends.
"If elected, I will not be Jan Morgan the governor. It will be the people's governor. Jan Morgan is just your voice," she said.
Morgan worked as a broadcast journalist in the Texarkana television market for a number of years beginning in the 1980s. In addition to covering news events for local network affiliates, she also appeared on Christian-based KLFI TV. She is the former wife of Texarkana, Ark., Police Chief Robert Harrison.
On Twitter: @RealKarlRichter