Rankin making bid to replace Ross

Beth Anne Rankin of Magnolia announced her candidacy for Congress in the Fourth Congressional District during a four-city tour on Monday, August 29.

Rankin, who ran for that seat in 2010, is a small business owner and seventh-generation south Arkansan who spent seven years working in the Governor's Office for Governor Mike Huckabee.

As Huckabee's Policy Advisor for State-Federal Affairs, Rankin served as the liaison to the National Governors Association, the Southern Governors Association, Capitol Hill and the White House. Rankin coordinated the Governor's Summit on Economic Development, Play it Again Arkansas and chaired the statewide initiative for the design of the Arkansas State Quarter, leading the nation in citizen participation.

Born in El Dorado and raised on the Rankin Farm in Magnolia, she was an Honor Graduate of Magnolia High School, attended Southern Arkansas University and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Ouachita Baptist University with a double major in history and music. Beth Anne is a Nationally-Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM) and launched Beth Anne Productions in Magnolia, an independent music-teaching studio. She is also vice president of Rankin Land and Timber, a Life Member of the National Rifle Association and a member of the National Federation of Independent Business.

“I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the wonderful friends and supporters who came to our public events today as I announced my candidacy for the United States Congress in the Fourth Congressional District. With a strong desire to be a people’s candidate, I am honored to see and feel the support of the citizens who came out today to stand with us in our efforts to send a strong message to Washington, DC that the federal government must live within it means, honor the spirit and courage of the American entrepreneur, balance its budget, respect the free market system and ease the heavy-handed regulations and mandates that are burdening and suffocating the small business owner.” said Rankin.