Grant Hodges (R) resigned from the Arkansas House of Representatives on July 10. Hodges’ resignation came just before he started a new job as the executive director of community and government relations at Northwest Arkansas Community College on July 13.
Hodges’ resignation was expected after he announced his acceptance of the new role in late June. First elected to represent District 96 in 2014 and re-elected in 2016 and 2018, Hodges did not file to run for re-election this year.
Hodges’ resignation creates the second vacancy in the chamber this year. The first was created when Chris Richey (D) resigned less than two weeks prior to Hodges, after moving out of his district for an employment opportunity. With the departure of Hodges and Richey, the current partisan composition of the Arkansas House of Representatives is 75 Republicans and 23 Democrats. Ten incumbents in the chamber, including Richey, did not file to run for re-election this year. Of those, Richey was the only Democrat.
Additional reading:
