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State Representative District 69

State Representative District 69

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    Kwami Abdul-Bey
    (Dem)

  • Candidate picture

    State Representative David Ray
    (Rep)

Biographical Information

Why are you running for this elected position?

What are the two most compelling issues on which, if elected, you feel you can make a difference?

Do you think that current Arkansas FOIA law adequately supports a citizen’s right to know about the workings of government? Why or why not?

How would you rate the level of civic engagement in your district?

What ideas do you have to increase civic engagement?

Campaign Phone 501-436-9119
Campaign Twitter Handle @KwamiAbdulBey
Campaign YouTube URL
phone 501-436-9119
Over the last several legislative sessions, the General Assembly has continued to wage war against the citizens of the State of Arkansas through a sustained campaign of legislative violence that has specifically targeted marginalized communities throughout the state with public policy initiatives drafted by out-of-state special interests and in-state corporate interests. This sustained campaign has left our General Assembly morally bankrupt, as a whole, and is leading our state treasury down the road to becoming fiscally bankrupt sooner than later. It is my goal to work to stop the present harm and repair the damage. I also envision creating the House District 69 Youth Advisory Council to prepare high schoolers for public service roles.
It is my primary goal to fully represent the constituents of Arkansas House District 69 in a way that I am regularly meeting with them and taking their collective ideals to the legislature to voice their interests. I have been learning about the issues that House District 69 constituents find to be compelling, and I want to convene a district-wide citizens' assembly to give true voice to those concerns. Secondarily, I do have my own ideas on necessary legislation that is a little more nuanced, actually a list of about two dozen ideas. I believe that the two most compelling issues from that list--at this time, on this day--are: fully-funded and resourced public education and sustainable, livable communities for ALL Arkansans.
During the First Extraordinary Session, 2023, of the 94th General Assembly, six bills were filed to eviscerate Arkansas' FOIA law, at the bequest of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Before then, Arkansas' FOIA was considered to be the strongest in the U.S.

Those bills, which were all sponsored/co-sponsored by State Representative David Ray (R-Maumelle), evolved into Act 7. He is the ALEC State Director responsible for this FOIA weakening law which is one of the goals of Project 2025: to make it very difficult for Arkansans to access public records at a reasonable cost and in a reasonable amount of time and make it harder to police public meetings.

The proper answer to this legal travesty was the citizen-initiated Arkansas Government Disclosure Amendment of 2024 and Arkansas Government Disclosure Act of 2024, which I fully supported and will continue to support in 2026.
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We need to begin our work in ALL of our K-12 schools, public, charter, private, homeschool, etc. Arkansas has the worst K-12 civics education curricula in the U.S. I would like to see it completely rewritten to model other states where Civics is taught in an interactive manner in the 11th and 12th grades. I would also work to lower than voting age to 16 years old for school board elections.

Next, we need to abolish the civil death penalty that takes Arkansans' civil rights from them when that become "guests" of the carceral system. Colorado did the right thing this year by legally requiring the placement of polling locations in all jails and prisons.

Another step is implementing rank choice voting and a citizens' assembly network.
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