Incumbent Faces Third-Party Candidates in Third Congressional District
By: Kyle Leyenberger
Updated: November 5, 2012
Incumbent Steve Womack faces two third-party challengers, after the Democratic candidate withdrew from the race earlier this year.
Womack says he's traveled all around Arkansas' Third District, and believes the economy is the top issue facing our area.
"It's jobs and the economy," he says. "It's deficits and debt, and trying to put America on a different fiscal path."
The incumbent says the way to do that is to cut spending, while putting people back to work.
"Create economic vitality for your country and you do that a lot of ways," Womack says. "Tax policy is part of that, government regulations are part of that, just creating a climate where the job creator can do what the job creator does best."
David Pangrac of the Libertarian Party of Arkansas says the $16 trillion national debt is the biggest problem, both locally and nationwide.
"Right now it doesn't matter if you're left or right, you're scared," Pangrac says. "There's a lot of problems, the country is heading towards a fiscal cliff."
Pangrac says Democrats and Republicans are not doing enough to steer away from that cliff.
"We need to start scaling federal government back to the enumerated powers of the constitution, and services that still need to be handled by the government, move them back to the state and local levels," he says. "With this system voters have more power... at a state and local level you have more influence."
Green Party candidate Rebekah Kennedy believes climate change takes precedence.
"We all live on this planet and there is no place that's not affected by that," she says. "There is no place that that's not the biggest local issue."
She wants to cut dependence on fossil fuels using public transportation.
"There's no reason why this area could not be a hub of rail and river traffic for the whole country," she says. "I think that's going to create a lot of jobs and it's something I'd like to work for in Congress."






