Preceded by John Lowery, Jr. Name Matthew Shepherd Residence El Dorado, Arkansas | Spouse(s) Alie Shepherd Political party Republican | |
Children Eli, Mary Kate, Libby Shepherd Alma mater Ouachita Baptist University
University of Arkansas School of Law | ||
Matthew Joseph Shepherd (born 1976) is an attorney from his native El Dorado, Arkansas, who is a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives for District 6, which includes western Union County. He was elected in the 2010, 2012, and 2014 legislative races.
In 2010, Shepherd claimed the District 6 seat by defeating the Democrat Ken Bridges, 4,780 to 2,074. In 2012, still in the reorganized District 6, Shepherd to gain a second term defeated the Independent Peter Cyphers, 10,051 to 2,149.
Shepherd graduated in 1998 from the Southern Baptist-affiliated Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia in South Arkansas. In 2001, he received the Juris Doctor degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville. He and his wife, Alie, have three children, Eli, Mary Kate, and Libby.
Shepherd endorsed Asa Hutchinson for governor of Arkansas in 2014. In his second bid for the office, eight years after his defeat in 2006 by Democrat Mike Beebe, Hutchinson defeated former U.S. Representative Mike Ross of Arkansas's 4th congressional district.