Jim Holt (Arkansas politician): Difference between revisions

| state_housestate_house2 = Arkansas

| districtdistrict2 = 5th

| term_startterm_start2 = 2001

| term_endterm_end2 = 2003

| state_senate2state_senate = Arkansas

| district2district = 35th

| term_start2term_start = 2003

| term_end2term_end = 2006

| spouse = Bobye Barenberg (sep. 2023)

| children = 1011

Holt was born in [[Camden, Arkansas|Camden]] in [[Ouachita County, Arkansas|Ouachita County]], southern [[Arkansas]]. He joined the military in 1987 and served in the [[U.S. Army]] Joint Intelligence Operations at the [[National Security Agency]].<ref name="jimholt2010.com">{{cite web|url=http://jimholt2010.com/about/|title=Jim Holt 2010 - About Jim|author=|date=|website=JimHolt2010.com|access-date=May 27, 2017}}</ref> His website notes he "was involved in highly classified operations during the Cold War, the ousting of [[Manuel Noriega]] from [[Panama]], and [[Operation Desert Storm]]".<ref name="jimholt2010.com"/> He is a "small business owner/operator and a part-time counselor". In 1996, Holt became an ordained [[Southern Baptist Convention|Southern Baptist]] minister. He andis married to his wife, the former Bobye Barenberg, originally of [[Rogers, Arkansas|Rogers]], Arkansas, they have teneleven children.<ref name="jimholt2010.com"/>

In 2004, Holt was the Republican nominee for the [[U. S. Senate]]. He was defeated by the Democrat [[Blanche Lincoln]], 55–44 percent56%-44%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arelections.org/results/66/elec66_election-all.html |title=Arkansas 2004 General Election and Non-Partisan Judicial Runoff |access-date=January 20, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212225925/http://www.arelections.org/results/66/elec66_election-all.html |archivedate=2008-02-12 }}</ref>

In 2006, Holt was the Republican nominee for [[lieutenant governor]] and was defeated by Democrat [[Bill Halter]], 57–42 percent57%-43%.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/elections_election_results.html#06 | title=Arkansas 2006 Election Results Publication}}</ref>

In 2010, Holt was a candidate in the Republican primary for [[U.S. Senate]] and was defeated by Republican [[John Boozman]], 53–17 percent53%-17%, with the remaining percent divided among six other GOP candidates. Boozman in turn unseated Lincoln, against whom Holt had run six years earlier.

Holt co-sponsored Arkansas House Bill 2548 in 2001, which would have required public schools to identify evolution as an unproven theory, and which would have prohibited the use of public funds for the promotion of evolution-related information as fact. The bill was sponsored by several other House members, including Representative [[Jack Critcher]], who later became the Democratic President Pro Tempore of the Arkansas Senate. The measure fell six votes short of passage. Holt was criticized in July 2006 by Don Michael, an opinion writer for the [[Fayetteville, Arkansas|Fayetteville]] ''Northwest Arkansas Times'', for having invited in April 2001 the creationist [[Kent Hovind]] to speak on behalf of the bill before a House committee.

As a legislator, Holt tangled publicly with former [[governor of Arkansas|Governor]] [[Mike Huckabee]] over [[immigration]]. In 2007, Holt opposed Huckabee's unsuccessful effort to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for state-funded [[scholarship]]s and in-state [[Tuition payments|tuition]] to Arkansas colleges, a position also adopted in [[Texas]] under Republican [[governor of Texas|Governor]] [[Rick Perry]]. Holt defended his position by asking Huckabee if he would allow the same privileges to families of military personnel deployed overseas. Huckabee did not respond.<ref name="nwanews.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/61298/ |title=From Hope to Betrayal : Huckabee can talk all he wants — but his record is what it is |access-date=January 20, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015191828/http://nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/61298 |archivedate=October 15, 2008 }}</ref>