# Mary Bentley

Mary Bentley is a Republican member of the Arkansas House for district 54.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: Arkansas House, district 54
- Serving since: 2015-01-12
- Current term: AR 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/7e778aa7-3d02-4d6c-9373-42470990fdea

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/7e778aa7-3d02-4d6c-9373-42470990fdea (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

7.9% of Bentley’s statements use an extreme label, 5.5 times the State House Republican average of 1.4%.

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

215 classified statements: 215 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State House Republicans average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Bentley | State House Republicans average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.9% | 2.9% | 405 of 791 |
| Policy criticism | 4.7% | 9.3% | 469 of 791 |
| Policy discussion | 39.1% | 31.9% | 279 of 791 |
| Bipartisanship | 3.3% | 1.8% | 152 of 791 |
| Credit claiming | 24.2% | 12.7% | 119 of 791 |
| Extreme labels | 7.9% | 1.4% | 18 of 791 |

Most discussed policy areas: Health 42% (State House Republicans 10%); Agriculture and Food 23% (State House Republicans 4.4%); Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues 13% (State House Republicans 6.2%); Families 9.5% (State House Republicans 3.6%); Education 5.9% (State House Republicans 15%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.18 (standard error 0.01), from 205 donors and 814 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 23% of State House Republicans score lower.

## Legislation (AR 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 33 bills: 33 reached committee, 26 passed one chamber, 22 passed both, 22 became law. Cosponsored 70. 78.8% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Arkansas House 56.1%; rank 13 of 81).

Recent sponsored bills:

- HB 1995: TO SEPARATE THE OFFICES OF SHERIFF AND TAX COLLECTOR IN PERRY COUNTY. (became law, 2025-04-22) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/HB1995/
- HMR 1012: TO REMEMBER HETTIE LUE BROOKS AS AN ARKANSAS LEGEND WHO POSITIVELY IMPACTED THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS OF ARKANSANS AS WELL AS PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD. (in committee, 2025-04-10) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/HMR1012/
- HB 1977: TO CREATE THE PROTECTING CHILDHOOD INNOCENCE IN LIBRARIES ACT. (in committee, 2025-05-05) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/HB1977/
- HB 1946: TO REQUIRE HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTRUCTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. (passed one chamber, 2025-05-05) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/HB1946/
- HB 1916: TO AMEND THE PROTECTING MINORS FROM MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ACT OF 2023; AND TO INCLUDE GENDER-AFFIRMING INTERVENTIONS AS A RIGHT OF ACTION FOR MEDICAL MALPRACTICE. (became law, 2025-04-22) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/HB1916/
- HB 1854: TO EXEMPT A HOME CAREGIVER FROM HOME CAREGIVER TRAINING IF HE OR SHE PREVIOUSLY COMPLETED TRAINING. (became law, 2025-04-16) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/HB1854/
- HB 1826: TO MANDATE COVERAGE FOR DELIVERY OF A NEWBORN IN A LICENSED BIRTHING CENTER. (became law, 2025-04-17) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/HB1826/
- SB 486: CONCERNING SAFETY AND PRIVACY IN CERTAIN ENTITIES; AND CONCERNING THE DESIGNATION OF MULTI-OCCUPANCY RESTROOMS, CHANGING ROOMS, AND SLEEPING QUARTERS IN… (became law, 2025-04-22) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/SB486/
- HR 1074: TO RECOGNIZE THE CONWAY KIWANIS BOOKCASE FOR EVERY CHILD PROJECT FOR INCREASING LITERACY AND STUDENT RETENTION RATES BY BUILDING PERSONALIZED BOOKCASES AS… (in committee, 2025-03-20) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/HR1074/
- HMR 1007: TO REMEMBER LORETTA FORD, COFOUNDER OF THE FIRST ACADEMIC PROGRAM FOR NURSE PRACTITIONERS AND "MOTHER" OF THE NURSE PRACTITIONER FIELD. (in committee, 2025-03-11) https://openstates.org/ar/bills/2025/HMR1007/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $68.3K (State House Republicans median $33.7K). 100% 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.

- 2026-09-10 · Post on X · https://x.com/MaryBentleyAR/status/2098018852927918353
- 2026-08-31 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/MaryBentleyAR/status/2094549740901839303
- 2026-08-18 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/MaryBentleyAR/status/2089858384527048955
- 2026-08-14 · Post on X · https://x.com/MaryBentleyAR/status/2088350285722689565
- 2026-08-11 · Post on X · https://x.com/MaryBentleyAR/status/2087301034708193763
- 2026-08-07 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/MaryBentleyAR/status/2085828867504415182
- 2026-07-28 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/MaryBentleyAR/status/2081893628507562338
- 2026-07-23 · Post on X · https://x.com/MaryBentleyAR/status/2080345310568591519
- 2026-07-23 · Post on X · https://x.com/MaryBentleyAR/status/2080361618282516793
- 2026-07-18 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/MaryBentleyAR/status/2078616936011698393

## Links

- Official site: https://www.arkansashouse.org/district/54
- Campaign site: https://www.marybentleyforarkansas.com/
- X: https://x.com/MaryBentleyAR
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mary.bentley.39
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bentleyforarkansas/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaryBentleyAR/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marybentley73/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeLj0zTgt3jyDIYL3IAzLpQ
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-bentley-40718715/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/7e778aa7-3d02-4d6c-9373-42470990fdea