No point beating around the bush.
Diana Gonzales Worthen, a university administrator and Democratic candidate for state Senate who lives in Springdale, faces a tough challenge in a district that has been solidly Republican for years. She opposes Republican Rep. Jon Woods. Her Hispanic roots are a small plus in a district with a large Latino population, but the number of Latino voters is probably disproportionately small compared with the population.
Nonethless, she plays to her strength today on a hot button issue on which Jon Woods has been a typical extremist Republican — immigration. Woods has demagogued the issue for at least five years, calling for investigations, opposing the DREAM Act and otherwise playing straight to the Republican base.
Gonzales Worthen applauds the U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming that border patrol is a federal, not state prerogative. This is smart, moderate and constitutional, as a Supreme Court majority including Republican justices has ruled. She uses it directly to differentiate herself. Said Gonzales Worthen’s spokeswoman Barbara Price-Davis:
“It’s embarrassing when a state legislator comes out on the wrong side of the Constitution. Diana supports the civil liberties of all families guaranteed by our Constitution. Our State Senator should be a person who cares about families, not uses them as political ammunition.”
So true. And, to date, so unproductive politically in Northwest Arkansas.