Southeast Arkansas Political Animals Meet

Left to Right:  Rex Nelson and Dr. John Davis

A large gathering meet Wednesday July, 20th at Western Sizzling in Monticello for the latest episode of Southeast Arkansas Political Animals.  The speaker for the day was Rex Nelson who is Sr. vice president and director of corporate communications at Simmons First National Corp.  Mr. Nelson is a former news reporter, assistant to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a former head of the Delta Regional Authority and served as executive director of the private colleges of Arkansas.  He is the voice of the OBU Tigers football team and travels to Monticello yearly to act as Master of Ceremonies for the Weevil Sports Hall of Fame.  Mr. Nelson is a native of Arkadelphia  and is considered well versed in Arkansas politics.  He currently serves as chairman of the Little Rock Political Animals Club.

Mr. Nelson knew many of those in attendance personally and spent time visiting with everyone present before and after the program.  Mr. Nelson was introduced by Dr. John Davis professor of political science and director of governmental relations for UAM.

Rex talked about the revolutionary tilt in Arkansas politics since 2010 and the population shifts since the 1950's.  He specifically discussed the impact on southeast Arkansas.  He was asked what created the change politically and responded that while it had been a shift in progress for some time, that the election of President Obama seems to have accelerated the change.