Because he sees a lack of leadership in the Republican Party, Little Rock businessman Curtis Coleman decided to enter the U.S. Senate race.
Coleman will face incumbent Sen. John Boozman, who has held the seat since his election in 2010, in the Republican primary on March 1. Former U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge, a Democrat, is also running for U.S. Senate.
President and CEO of Safe Foods Corporation in North Little Rock and chairman of the Institute for Constitutional Policy, Coleman ran for governor in 2014, but has never held elected office.
“There is a very important struggle for leadership within the Republican Party,” he said. “There are a lot of Republicans in Arkansas who have trouble telling the difference between Democrats and a lot of establishment Republicans. There is a battle for leadership in the Republican Party and it is a critical one. I think Arkansans are looking for someone who’s not a member of the political class.”
Coleman said he is not an establishment Republican candidate. He supports the elimination of the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Labor, reducing the powers of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and lessening the powers of government.
AMP spoke to Coleman about his campaign, his view of current politics and more.
AMP: Why are you running for U.S. Senate?
Coleman: I got conscripted. I ran for governor recently and I wasn’t planning to run again, at least not now, if ever. I’m a businessman. Groups of mainly business men and women from around the state started approaching me several months ago about running, and I told them I didn’t plan to run. [Sen.] John Boozman is a friend, and he’s as nice a guy as you’ll ever meet in your life. I was aware of some occasional votes by the senator that I didn’t like, but in general I didn’t complain. I had to admit that I really hadn’t been paying attention to John’s voting record. Since running for governor, I’d been working really hard at recruiting conservatives to run for the Arkansas House and the Arkansas Senate — helping to find, recruit, vet and support conservatives through the Arkansas legislature. That’s where my head and heart have been.
There were several groups, from all quadrants of the state, of individuals who were coming to me and asking me to run. They finally convinced me to study Sen. Boozman’s voting record. When I did, I, frankly, was aghast. It wasn’t reflective of what I believe is a conservative Republican from Arkansas — not even close. I still didn’t have what I would call a leadership in my heart to run, and my wife, [Kathryn], wasn’t really interested in me running. I wasn’t about to do anything without her and her full support. Even on Thursday night, before the filing deadline on [Monday,] Nov. 9, I was telling these people I didn’t think I should run. On Friday, Kathryn and I said maybe we should be willing. I called some of these folks on Friday night and said I’m concerned about sending [Boozman’s] voting record back to Washington, D.C. I don’t think it’s representative of Arkansans, especially Arkansans Republicans.
The filing fee for U.S. Senate in Arkansas is $20,000. So we told these folks, if there are enough Arkansans who want me to run to give me the $20,000 by Sunday night — they had Saturday and Sunday — I’ll run. I said that pretty smugly, because I didn’t think it was going to happen. The short story is that there was $24,000 that they had already given or committed. Monday morning, I was at the state capitol writing a check for $20,000.
I don’t want there to be any sense of reluctance. I’m one of these guys that can’t do something that I don’t have a passion about. And, I do have a passion for this. I’m committed to this and I plan to win, whatever that takes. As hard as I have to work, I’m one of those classic workaholics. I love to work. Kathryn is fully on board and our family is fully on board and our friends think this needs to happen.
AMP: The group of people that that encouraged you to run, are they an organized group or individuals?
Coleman: It was [individual] people from different parts of the state, which got my attention. I’m not sure the individual groups knew about each other. I wasn’t telling them about each other. It was an interesting component that there were people from all quadrants of the state. Doc Washburn of KARN got on the air and started asking people to tell Curtis Coleman he’s got to run for U.S. Senate. So I’m blaming some of this on him. That’s how the decision happened.
AMP: It seems like Sen. Boozman votes mostly along party lines. Does your frustration with his voting record extend to the Republican Party in general?
Coleman: He votes an establishment party line. I’m not an establishment candidate. For instance, in the last 14 years that he’s been in Congress, Sen. Boozman has voted to raise the debt ceiling seven times. Those seven times have accumulated $6.3 trillion in additional debt. That’s not a conservative Republican point of view. I would have not have voted to raise the debt ceiling seven times. […] There’s no purpose of having a debt ceiling if you raise it every time you hit it. My position would have been, let’s stop right here and reprioritize our spending, because that’s what a debt ceiling is intended to do.
Last December, Sen. Boozman voted for what’s known as the Omnibus [Appropriations Bill] for $1 trillion in spending. Attached to that bill was funding for Planned Parenthood, funding for Obama’s executive amnesty declaration, funding for Obama care. Those are all issues for which I have principle disagreement. I could not have supported those. I would not have supported that bill for those reasons.
AMP: Do you believe sometimes you have to give a little to get what you want ultimately?
Coleman: Yes, I think giving a little is necessary, but what you don’t give on is principle. On principle, that’s where a conservative stands fast. I think that the Republican establishment, in my opinion, has been very soft on those kinds of issues.
AMP: How do you describe yourself as a Republican?
Coleman: Some people call me a constitutional Republican. I’m chairman of the Institute for Constitutional Policy. I love it. I love the Constitution. I’ve even taught classes on the Constitution. I think in the Senate, I will be fundamentally committed to only voting for those things that the constitution supports and empowers the federal government to do. In reverse, I will be voting against those things I don’t think are constitutionally mandated.
AMP: Do you consider yourself a tea party Republican?
Coleman: Some people would consider me that. I’m a member of the tea party.
AMP: I heard that you said you didn’t think John Boozman was conservative enough. Did you say that? Why?
Coleman: Someone interpreted what I said as having said that. What I’ve said, specifically, is that I’ve listed specific votes and said those were not conservative votes. As I studied his record, I was shocked at how broad that spectrum is, not just on fiscal issues. John is as sound on social issues — he’s solid pro-life, solid family. Where it does begin to change is how we view government and the role of government and the cost of government.
I think we’re on a fast track to a financial Armageddon. You’d be pressed to find any nation in history that has been able to sustain an indebtedness that’s greater than it’s gross domestic product, which is where we are today. I want to go to Capitol Hill and say, “Can you not see the debt clock from here?” In my opinion, our indebtedness is our greatest threat to national security. Only a fool believes that he or she can continue to spend beyond their income and survive that. No nation can do that.
All our debates about social programs, about welfare, about Social Security, about military spending will be moot if we don’t stop this out-of-control spending that we’re doing. That will be my No.1 objective. I will be aggressively opposing increasing our spending and will be an intense advocate for cutting, not just our deficit, but our debt, which are two different things.
AMP: Conner Eldridge, the Democrat running for this Senate seat, said a new, fresh perspective is needed in Washington. Do you also feel that way?
Coleman: I don’t think change for the sake of change is what needs to happen. I think what needs to happen we need strong leadership. We don’t need someone who will just vote right. We need someone who will lead — who will be confident in their principle positions and vote consistently; that will stand and explain to their constituents how those principles guided that vote.
AMP: What will your campaign be like?
Coleman: This is going to be a grassroots campaign. I came out of the governor’s race with a large grassroots organization still in tact. I’ve only been in the race about five weeks and we already have Team Coleman signed up in all of Arkansas’ 75 counties. We have grassroots volunteers working in all 75 counties. I don’t know of any other political organization that can say that today.
Beginning early in January, we will be arming our grassroots volunteers all over the state with documented information about Sen. Boozman’s voting record. We think Arkansans, especially conservative Arkansans, will react like I did. We’ll be offering my positions and policies as an alternative. The simple thing that we think is get that information into the hands of enough Arkansans before March 1, and, if we do that successfully, we think we’ll win this election.
In the general election, there’s going to be a clear choice between socialism and conservatism. I think it’s difficult to be a Democrat today without subscribing to troubling aspects of socialism. I don’t know how anyone running for office as a Democrat can distance themselves from socialistic policy which is the hallmark of the Democratic Party today. I think what will happen in the general election, there will be a very clear choice about how they want to be represented.
AMP: What Democratic policies do you think are socialist?
Coleman: Where do I start. I think, fundamentally, for the Democrats, the government is the solution to everything. I tend to believe the government is the problem to almost anything. We have created a culture and society of a dependence on entitlement. We have a growing number of Americans who are dependent on government for the fundamentals of life. That is a fundamental of socialism. I think hyper-regulation, not only of business, but of individual lives, that we see in our country today is a product of socialism. I think the threats to property and threats to privacy that are being forced on Americans — those are products of socialism.
AMP: Top Senate Republicans have expressed concern about Boozman retaining his seat. Did that surprise you?
Coleman: I was surprised that that was made public and that it was made public before the filing period ended. Those created real questions for me. Why would [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell tell the senator that he better get with it or he’s going to lose the seat to a Democrat. I don’t fully understand the purpose of those comments becoming public at the time they did. I think it was reflective of what many Arkansans have that Sen. Boozman’s efforts are not going to be adequate to hold onto the seat.