Tim Hutchinson

Young Timothy Hutchinson (born August 11, 1949) is an American Republican politician, lobbyist, and former United States senator from the state of Arkansas. Personal life Hutchinson was born in Bentonville in northwestern Arkansas, the son of John Malcolm Hutchinson, Sr. (1907–1991) and Coral Virginia (Mount) Hutchinson (1912–1998). He was raised on the family farm in nearby Gravette. He graduated with a B.A. from Bob Jones University and received an M.A. in political science from the University of Arkansas (1990). He currently is a lobbyist and is a resident of Alexandria, Virginia. He is married to Randi Fredholm Hutchinson, an attorney in Washington, D.C. He was the first Republican to have been elected to the U.S. Senate in Arkansas since 1879. Early political career Hutchinson served in the Arkansas House of Representatives representing part of Fort Smith from 1985 to 1992. In 1992, he ran for the Republican nomination in after the popular 26-year incumbent John Paul Hammerschmidt announced his retirement. He defeated a fellow Republican state lawmaker Richard L. Barclay of Rogers, for the Republican nomination. He faced Democrat John VanWinkle, an attorney from Fayetteville, in the general election, and won by only 7,500 votes—a margin of five percent. He owed his victory to a 10,000-vote margin in his native Benton County. It was the second-closest margin in the 3rd, one of the most Republican districts in the South, which Hammerschmidt had represented since January 1967. The only closer race was in 1974, when Bill Clinton came within 6,300 votes of ousting Hammerschmidt. Clinton narrowly carried the 3rd in his successful run for President, a presumed factor in the closeness of the 1992 congressional race.