Asa Hutchinson Bio
William Asa Hutchinson II, known as Asa Hutchinson, is an American attorney, businessman, and Republican politician who served as the 46th governor of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023. Born on December 3, 1950, in Bentonville, Arkansas, he built a long career in public service that included time as a U.S. attorney, a U.S. representative, and senior appointments inside the George W. Bush administration. After leaving the governor’s office, he entered the 2024 Republican presidential race before ending his campaign in January 2024.
Early Life and Background
Asa Hutchinson was born in Bentonville, Arkansas, the son of John Malcolm Hutchinson Sr. and Coral Virginia (Mount) Hutchinson. He grew up in the same region where the Walton family would later build Walmart into a global brand. His upbringing in northwest Arkansas shaped his early interest in law, business, and civic affairs, and his family background produced another prominent political figure, his older brother Tim Hutchinson.
Hutchinson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting from Bob Jones University in South Carolina in 1972, followed by a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1975. After law school, he settled in Fort Smith, where he practiced law for 21 years and tried more than 100 jury cases. That courtroom experience helped prepare him for a federal appointment that came early in his thirties.
Path to US Politics
Hutchinson’s entry into national politics came in 1982, when President Ronald Reagan appointed him U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. At 31, he was the youngest U.S. attorney in the country. He gained national attention for leading the prosecution of The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, a white supremacist group that staged a three-day armed standoff before Hutchinson personally negotiated a peaceful resolution.
After leaving the U.S. attorney’s office, Hutchinson ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1986 against former Arkansas Governor Dale Bumpers and lost a 1990 race for state attorney general to Winston Bryant. He then served as co-chair and later full chair of the Arkansas Republican Party from 1991 through 1995, helping organize the state GOP during a period of growth. Those party-building years set the stage for his move into Congress.
Asa Hutchinson Career
Early Career (1982–1996)
Hutchinson served as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas from 1982 to 1985, building a reputation as a tough federal prosecutor. He returned to private life and ran for statewide office twice without success, but those campaigns expanded his name recognition across Arkansas.
When his brother Tim Hutchinson decided in 1996 to leave the House to run for the U.S. Senate, Asa Hutchinson won the seat representing Arkansas’s 3rd congressional district. He defeated Ann Henry, a longtime ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton, with 52 percent of the vote, helped by the district’s Republican lean and his brother’s coattails.
Breakthrough (1996–2005)
Hutchinson served three terms in the U.S. House, representing Arkansas’s 3rd congressional district from 1997 to 2001. He focused on illegal drug enforcement, especially methamphetamine, and served as one of the House managers prosecuting President Bill Clinton during his 1998 impeachment trial. He was reelected with 81 percent of the vote in 1998 and ran unopposed in 2000.
In 2001, President George W. Bush nominated Hutchinson as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Senate confirmed him by a 98-to-1 vote. After the September 11 attacks, Bush tapped him to lead the Border and Transportation Security Directorate at the new Department of Homeland Security, a position confirmed unanimously by the Senate in January 2003. Hutchinson left that role on March 1, 2005, marking the end of his federal executive service.
Republican Era (2005–2024)
Returning to Arkansas, Hutchinson founded the Hutchinson Group consulting firm in Little Rock and joined the law firm Venable LLP in Washington, D.C., as chair of its Homeland Security practice. In 2006, he won the Republican nomination for governor after the death of Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller but lost the general election to Democrat Mike Beebe.
Hutchinson ran again in 2014 and defeated former U.S. Representative Mike Ross with 55 percent of the vote, giving Republicans full control of state government for the first time since Reconstruction. He was reelected in 2018 with more than 65 percent of the vote, the largest margin for a Republican in Arkansas history. Due to term limits, he could not run again in 2022 and was succeeded by Sarah Huckabee Sanders. In April 2023, Hutchinson announced his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, positioned as a critic of Donald Trump. He dropped out on January 16, 2024, after earning only 191 votes in the Iowa caucuses. He later endorsed Nikki Haley before the New Hampshire primary and joined Scripps News as a political contributor.
Notable Events and Milestones
Among Hutchinson’s most remembered moments as governor were his signing of the 2017 law resuming executions in Arkansas, his 2019 and 2021 bills restricting abortion, his veto of a 2021 ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, and his 2021 laws blocking COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements. He also gained national attention for condemning efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and criticizing Trump, which became central themes of his 2024 White House bid.
Asa Hutchinson Career Wins
Asa Hutchinson’s most significant electoral wins came in his U.S. House races and his two successful gubernatorial campaigns in Arkansas. Across three House terms and two governor’s races, he built a record of consistently strong performances in conservative-leaning districts and statewide contests.
Arkansas Gubernatorial Highlights
Hutchinson first won the governorship in 2014, defeating Democrat Mike Ross with 55 percent of the vote in an open-seat race, the strongest GOP showing in such a contest since Reconstruction. He followed that with a 2018 landslide, winning more than 65 percent of the vote and carrying all but eight Arkansas counties, the largest margin for a Republican candidate in state history.
Other Wins and Achievements
Hutchinson was first elected to the U.S. House in 1996 with 52 percent of the vote, then cruised to reelection in 1998 with 81 percent and ran unopposed in 2000. Within the Republican Party, he also served as vice chair of the National Governors Association from 2020 to 2021, then as chair from 2021 to 2022.
Asa Hutchinson Family
Family Background and Political Lineage
Asa Hutchinson comes from a politically active Arkansas family. His parents, John Malcolm Hutchinson Sr. and Coral Virginia (Mount) Hutchinson, raised their children in northwest Arkansas. His older brother, Tim Hutchinson, preceded him in Congress representing Arkansas’s 3rd congressional district, then served one term as U.S. senator from 1997 to 2003 before losing his 2002 reelection bid to Democrat Mark Pryor.
Personal Life
Asa Hutchinson married Susan Burrell in 1973, and the couple has four children. He is the brother-in-law of former Arkansas state senator Kim Hendren, who married his sister Marylea Hutchinson, and the uncle of Arkansas state senator Jim Hendren of Sulphur Springs. Both Asa and Tim Hutchinson are graduates of Bob Jones University.