Marion Berry and the Blue Dogs

That’s why flags have been at half-staff the past few days, by order of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Berry was what people used to call an Arkansas Democrat. He was a balanced budget supporter and also an advocate for government assistance for the poor and for rural America. At the same time, he was culturally conservative and strongly pro-life. During his time, the moderate Blue Dog Democrats like him were a force in Congress. There were 54 after the 2008 elections. As time has passed and the party has moved left, they have faded away. Now there are seven.

Berry was part of a state congressional delegation that, as recently as 13 years ago, was five-sixths Democrats. In the 2008 election, he didn’t have an opponent, and Sen. Mark Pryor didn’t have a Republican one. The other House Democrats, Vic Snyder and Mike Ross, were re-elected easily, while Sen. Blanche Lincoln had been re-elected in 2004. Then-Rep. John Boozman, representing Northwest Arkansas’ 3rd District, was the state’s only congressional Republican. The constitutional officers were entirely Democrats, while the state Legislature was largely so.

This was nothing new. Democrats had dominated Arkansas politics since the Civil War.

But that 2008 election hinted at where Arkansas was headed. In the presidential race, Republican John McCain won almost 59 percent of the vote here while losing nationwide to Barack Obama.

Arkansas was about to become very Republican. In the 2010 elections, Berry and Snyder didn’t run again. Ross was re-elected while Democrat Mike Beebe was elected governor, but Boozman beat Lincoln and Republicans won three of the four House races.

After being a one-party Democratic state for 150 years, Arkansas would be a two-party state for only four, and it’s been a one-party Republican state ever since. In 2014, Pryor only managed 39 percent of the vote in his re-election race against Tom Cotton. Asa Hutchinson easily defeated Ross in the race for governor. In statewide races, Democrats now have a ceiling of somewhere around 35 percent. They can win only in the Delta, Little Rock and a couple of places in Northwest Arkansas.

Berry was definitely a Democrat. But what if someone like him – leaning Democratic in support of government assistance and advocacy, but leaning Republican in being culturally conservative and pro-life – wanted to run for office today? That person probably would have to run as a Republican in Arkansas if they wanted to win. They wouldn’t fit into today’s Democratic Party any better, and they probably couldn’t get elected if they tried to.

These days, if you’re going to be politically viable in Arkansas, you’re probably running with the Republican label, whether or not you agree with everything the party says. It’s the same choice candidates made in favor of the Democratic Party for 150 years.

If almost everybody is a Republican, then more and more, they probably won’t all be the same kind, particularly at the state level where 135 legislators and the governor meet to make laws. They might argue among themselves just as passionately as Democrats used to do when they dominated.

We might even see some Blue Dog Republicans, although I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t call themselves that.

Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 18 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stevebrawner.