HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE -- U.S. Senate candidate Conner Eldridge brought his message of a need for change in the country's leadership to residents of Hot Springs Village on Tuesday, during a stop along his #HearARVoices tour.
He and his assistants broke bread, sipped coffee and spoke with the dozen or so people present in Melinda's Coffee Corner, including several representatives from both the Democratic Party of Garland County and the Democratic Club of Hot Springs Village.
Eldridge announced his candidacy in September, and though this is his first step into the political pool, his name is already familiar to many Arkansans. He was named CEO of Arkadelphia's Summit Bank in 2008, became special deputy prosecutor for Clark County in 2009, and took on the role of U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas in 2010.
In that most recent position, Eldridge was the youngest serving U.S. attorney. He told The Sentinel-Record, "I've always been the youngest doing whatever I've been doing. ... But I'm finding that people want to have a real conversation with the person who leads them, and age doesn't really matter."
Eldridge said he's visited close to 60 of the 75 counties in Arkansas thus far in his campaign, and while the geography changes, what he hears from citizens across the Natural State remains consistent.
"People are fed up with both parties, and with everybody in Washington," he said. "I've heard four times today that people want common sense, and they feel like politicians are not using that with virtually anything.
"People are upset about how the government spends their money, and I hear that from people in all different kinds of jobs. They feel like they're working hard, and the government ought to play by the same rules they do. And people are also tired of the way campaigns are run, of all the bickering and ugliness, and also of the corruption of money in politics."
The Fayetteville resident said his is a "simpler campaign," adding, "We're going to be outspent in this campaign, but we're going to make up for it with shoe leather, and doing what we're doing today -- getting around to communities and listening to people, and asking for their vote. I think that matters."
For him, change in Washington is what is needed first and foremost.
"You look at the U.S. Senate, it's completely dysfunctional. Everybody spends their time blaming each other and trying to position themselves politically, trying to help themselves out, and really not focusing on things that impact regular people in Arkansas at their kitchen tables," he said.
"There's a lot at stake in this election. There are big issues at play that impact the future of our state, our security."
For Eldridge, the major issues can be put into two groups -- the country's security and its future. He said people want to feel secure "whether it's financially, whether it's health care, whether it's criminal threat, and that's my experience, and foreign policy plays into that, too. The United States Senate will shape the future of our state and country in all those areas."
To him, the job of a senator involves traveling the state to hear what voters have to say, "and then you go fight for them," he said.
For Eldridge, that fight doesn't happen along political lines. He said, "You've got to be willing to work with anybody in either party, and you've also got to be willing to stand up to anybody in either party."
The father of three young boys said he loved being a federal prosecutor and working on behalf of justice every day.
"We did a lot of good work, including here in Garland County, to prosecute dangerous methamphetamine dealers, child predators, people who committed fraud -- and that was really rewarding work. But the Senate is the place that you can stand up not just on those issues, but on every issue that faces our country."
Eldridge said he feels called to serve as a U.S. senator. He said, "I think people are hungry for new leadership, and this is my first political race, and so I'm ready to step up and go provide some new leadership."
Local on 04/28/2016