# Bart Hester

Bart Hester is a Republican member of the Arkansas Senate for district 33.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: Arkansas Senate, district 33
- Serving since: 2013-01-14
- Current term: AR 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/0dee8795-58dd-48a8-980e-044d8d2ac646

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/0dee8795-58dd-48a8-980e-044d8d2ac646 (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

56% of Hester’s itemized money in the 2026 cycle came from Arkansas, in the bottom tenth of State Senate Republicans.

## What Hester says (AR 2025–26 session)

60 classified statements: 60 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Republicans average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Hester | State Senate Republicans average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 3.3% | 2.3% | 89 of 354 |
| Policy criticism | 3.3% | 9.5% | 235 of 354 |
| Policy discussion | 45.0% | 37.3% | 129 of 354 |
| Bipartisanship | 0.0% | 2.3% | 311 of 354 |
| Credit claiming | 15.0% | 15.4% | 158 of 354 |
| Extreme labels | 1.7% | 1.3% | 84 of 354 |

Most discussed policy areas: Crime and Law Enforcement 22% (State Senate Republicans 12%); Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues 15% (State Senate Republicans 5.0%); Government Operations and Politics 15% (State Senate Republicans 17%); Law 15% (State Senate Republicans 3.7%); Armed Forces and National Security 11% (State Senate Republicans 6.5%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.34 (standard error 0.02), from 89 donors and 850 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 48% of State Senate Republicans score lower.

## Legislation (AR 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 44 bills: 33 reached committee, 24 passed one chamber, 22 passed both, 21 became law. Cosponsored 41. 54.5% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Arkansas Senate 60.4%; rank 22 of 31).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SMR 6: IN RESPECTFUL MEMORY OF LEGENDARY COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACH LOUIS LEO "LOU" HOLTZ FOR HIS SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT FAYETTEVILLE, THE STATE OF… (introduced, 2026-04-29) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2026F/SMR6/
- SR 30: TO HONOR LOY BAILEY UPON HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. (introduced, 2026-04-29) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2026F/SR30/
- SR 1: FOR A JOINT SESSION OF THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AT 12:30 P.M., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2026, IN THE HOUSE CHAMBER, TO HEAR AN ADDRESS BY THE… (introduced, 2026-04-29) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2026F/SR1/
- SR 2: TO AUTHORIZE RECESSES OF THE SENATE OR THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, OR BOTH, FOR PERIODS OF FOUR CONSECUTIVE DAYS OR LONGER. (introduced, 2026-04-29) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2026F/SR2/
- SR 75: TO HONOR SYLVIA ANN HINDSMAN CORNWELL FOR HER EXEMPLARY, DEDICATED SERVICE TO THE SENATE AND TO THE STATE OF ARKANSAS. (introduced, 2025-05-05) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/SR75/
- HB 1981: TO AMEND THE DEFINITIONS OF "OUTDOOR RECREATION OPERATOR" AND "TRAMWAY OPERATOR UNDER THE LAW CONCERNING RECREATIONAL TRAMWAYS". (passed one chamber, 2025-05-05) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/HB1981/
- SR 61: TO HONOR WARREN A. STEPHENS OF ARKANSAS AND TO SUPPORT HIS NOMINATION AS THE AMBASSADOR TO THE COURT OF ST. JAMES'S. (introduced, 2025-05-05) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/SR61/
- SB 601: TO CREATE A PATHWAY FOR A GRADUATE OF A FOREIGN MEDICAL SCHOOL TO BE LICENSED IN THIS STATE IF HE OR SHE IS OFFERED FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT AS A PHYSICIAN FROM A… (became law, 2025-04-22) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/SB601/
- HB 1917: TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS STUDENT-ATHLETE PUBLICITY RIGHTS ACT; AND TO AMEND THE LAW RELATED TO ATHLETIC PROGRAM FUNDING. (became law, 2025-04-17) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/HB1917/
- SB 578: TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING EARLY VOTING; AND TO ALLOW A COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS TO CLOSE CERTAIN EARLY VOTING LOCATIONS DURING INCLEMENT… (became law, 2025-04-18) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/SB578/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $21.2K (State Senate Republicans median $46.2K). 56% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-10-23 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://twitter.com/BartHester/status/2113775322638500036
- 2026-10-13 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://twitter.com/BartHester/status/2110136103663530089
- 2026-10-05 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/https://twitter.com/BartHester/status/2107100675972993513
- 2026-09-16 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://twitter.com/BartHester/status/2100340718417920280
- 2026-09-11 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://twitter.com/BartHester/status/2098451096943403488
- 2026-09-08 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/https://twitter.com/BartHester/status/2097289368117329962
- 2026-08-18 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://twitter.com/BartHester/status/2089537292205518911
- 2026-08-12 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/https://twitter.com/BartHester/status/2087608985914396836
- 2026-07-22 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://twitter.com/BartHester/status/2079956273924120860
- 2026-06-16 · Post on X · https://x.com/https://twitter.com/BartHester/status/2067000170089238851

## Links

- Official site: https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Legislators/Detail?member=Hester&ddBienniumSession=2021%2F2021R
- Campaign site: https://www.hesterforarkansas.com/
- X: https://x.com/BartHester
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BartHesterforStateSenate
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/statesenatorbarthester/
- YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/user/hesterforarkansas
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bart-hester-8ba12745/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/0dee8795-58dd-48a8-980e-044d8d2ac646