Mike Beebe

Early life and education

Beebe was born in Amagon, a small town in Jackson County, Arkansas. He was raised by his mother, a waitress, and never met his father. As a child, he moved often with his family. They lived in Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Houston and Alamogordo, New Mexico. They returned to Newport, Arkansas, where Beebe graduated from high school at the age of seventeen in 1964.

Beebe received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Arkansas State University in 1968, where he was a member of Sigma Pi fraternity. He earned his juris doctor from the University of Arkansas in 1972. Beebe served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1968-74.

After graduating from law school and passing the Arkansas Bar, Beebe entered private practice in Searcy, Arkansas for ten years at Lightle, Beebe, Raney, Bell, and Hudgins and was a member of the White County Bar and the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association. Beebe also served on the Board of Trustees at Arkansas State University from 1974-79.

Early political career

After the incumbent senator from his newly redrawn district unexpectedly dropped out of the race, Beebe was left without a primary or general election opponent and was elected to the Arkansas State Senate in 1982, where he would serve for 20 years. He never faced an opponent in his twenty-year Senate career in which he became known as one of the most effective legislators based on his pragmatic deal-making ability. During his last session in the state senate, Beebe was elected president pro tempore of the body. In 2002, he was elected Arkansas Attorney General, a position he held for the four years prior to his election as governor.

2006

On June 14, 2005, Beebe announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party's nomination to run for Governor of Arkansas. Beebe defeated former Republican Congressman and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief Asa Hutchinson as well as the Green Party candidate and independent candidate Rod Bryan in the general election on November 7, 2006, capturing 55 percent of the vote.

Beebe was sworn in as governor on January 9, 2007. He was elected to the Democratic Governors Association Executive Committee for 2008–09.

2010

Beebe was challenged by Republican nominee Jim Keet, a former state legislator from Little Rock. Beebe defeated Keet 64% to 34% Despite the rise of the Tea party movement that year, Beebe won with more votes than any Arkansas Governor of either party since four-year terms were introduced, winning all 75 counties in the state.

First term

In his official website, Beebe outlines some of the policies he has pursued during his first term. He has outlined a plan for a balanced budget and attempted to cut middle class taxes by slashing in half the percentage of the state's grocery tax and increasing the Homestead Property Tax Credit, which can provide for the lowering of property taxes.

Beebe has focused heavily on education reform. He has called for an additional $19 million per year to be spent on assisting special needs students and has designed a program that attempts to increase the quality of teachers within Arkansas by providing alternative pay and mentoring to motivate bright students to enter education or young teachers to work in struggling rural schools. Beebe has rejected calls to allow for Social Security private accounts to be established. He has also made plans to phase out the tax on utilities for manufacturers.

He outlined a 12-point plan to make health care more accessible and affordable. Some of his proposals include using federal tax credits to make private insurance cheaper, promote the expansion of Medicaid, advocating preventive care to stop health concerns before they grow worse, expanding school health clinics, and using home or community based cares as an alternative to nursing homes.

Second term

In January 2011, he said that he supported a tax increase for highway funding saying "If they pass a tax increase for highways and it was reasonable, I'd sign it. I don't think it's going to happen."

In January 2012, he proposed a $163 million funding increase in a $4.7 billion state budget. He called for $117 million increase in the Human Services Department and a $56 million increase in public schools. He also called for an audit of the state's Forestry Commission's finances after a $4 million shortfall and a layoff of 36 workers.

In the 2012 midterm elections, Republicans gained control of both houses of the General Assembly for the first time since 1874 after making major gains two years earlier. This made Beebe the first Democratic Governor of Arkansas ever to face a Republican-controlled legislature. The GOP margin was 21 to 14 in the Senate, and 51 to 48 in the House (with one Green). In his 2013 State of the State address, Beebe made a comprehensive case for Medicaid expansion. In April 2013, Beebe signed into law Arkansas's "private option" to use federal Medicaid money to purchase private insurance for thousands of low-income residents. To become law, the proposal needed a two-thirds majority vote. The state's General Assembly, with Republicans in the majority, narrowly approved the three necessary bills to establish and finance the insurance program.

Beebe hasn't seen his approval rating slip below 70 percent at any point during his tenure, according to yearly polls from the University of Arkansas. According to the FiveThirtyEight Blog, "[Beebe's] crossover appeal — and the recent history in Arkansas of producing a popular Democratic president — might suggest Mr. Beebe, who will be term-limited in 2014, would be among the more talked-about 2016 contenders."

On November 12, 2014, two months before the end of his term, Beebe said he intended to pardon his son for a 2003 felony drug possession conviction.

Personal life

Beebe and his wife, Ginger, have three children and seven grandchildren.