Compare Candidates

Cotton’s campaign says he supports protecting rural hospitals, expanding access to care, lowering prescription-drug costs, and strengthening care for veterans and seniors.

Shoffner says healthcare should be affordable and accessible for every Arkansan. She supports protecting hospitals, lowering prescription-drug prices, strengthening the Affordable Care Act, protecting Medicare and Medicaid, reducing…

Jeff Wadlin says healthcare should cover everyone while cutting total costs roughly in half over time. He proposes a regulated public-private partnership combining private delivery and consumer choice with universal access, price…

Cotton’s campaign says he supports lower taxes, opposes tax increases, and favors rolling back regulations it associates with the Green New Deal. It also says he supports domestic energy production and legislation intended to limit data-center-related costs for Arkansans.

Shoffner proposes an Arkansas-focused economic agenda that would lower costs for working families through tax cuts and reduced grocery, childcare, housing, and healthcare expenses; raise the minimum wage; expand workforce training; support…

Wadlin says his economic priorities are affordability, competition, and broad-based prosperity. He proposes eliminating broad tariffs that raise consumer and farm-input costs; stronger antitrust enforcement against monopoly power and…

Cotton opposes the Green New Deal and other climate mandates, arguing they raise costs and can undermine reliable electricity.

Shoffner describes climate change as a major threat to Arkansas agriculture and supports helping farmers adapt through Farm Bill incentives and environmentally friendly practices such as reduced tillage and cover crops.

Wadlin says climate change is real, human activity contributes to it, and its effects are felt by Arkansans, particularly farmers.

Cotton has described himself as pro-life and has called for legal protections for unborn children. In a 2021 speech, he opposed taxpayer funding of abortion and argued that unborn children deserve legal protection.

Shoffner's platform calls for addressing maternal mortality and ensuring women can receive lifesaving medical care when they need it.

Jeff Wadlin says he is not focused on abortion and other culture-war issues, views abortion policy as primarily a state concern after the Supreme Court’s decision, and believes a U.S. senator is unlikely to have much impact on it.

Cotton supports stricter border and interior immigration enforcement. His campaign says he supported ending catch-and-release, completing the border wall, deporting noncitizens convicted of crimes, and changing legal immigration through the RAISE Act.

Shoffner says she would vote to defund ICE in its current form, citing deaths, mistaken arrests and detentions, and inadequate accountability.

Wadlin supports border security, quicker immigration and asylum decisions, more immigration judges, modern entry-and-exit systems, and workplace verification.

Cotton’s campaign says he supports Second Amendment protections for law-abiding gun owners, opposes gun-control measures it views as burdens on those owners, and favors stronger enforcement against violent criminals and gangs.

Hallie Shoffner says the Second Amendment should be protected while also supporting gun-safety laws. In a July 2026 statement after a possibly armed individual appeared at her home, she said, “We need to protect our Second Amendment rights.

Wadlin says gun ownership and carrying firearms are human rights, and his campaign frames this position as part of its commitment to personal liberty and constitutional government.

Tom Cotton continues to advocate a strength-oriented foreign policy focused on countering strategic competitors and defending U.S. national security interests.

Shoffner has criticized the U.S. war with Iran, saying it is expensive, potentially prolonged, and harming Arkansas farmers and consumers through higher fuel and fertilizer costs.

Wadlin supports peaceful relations and opposes wars of aggression and foreign entanglements, which he says cost lives, add to debt, and increase energy and supply costs.

Cotton supports requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and voter identification requirements. He cosponsored the Dismantle DEI Act of 2025 (S. 382), which would prohibit specified federal diversity, equity, and inclusion…

Wadlin’s campaign frames civil rights and equality through personal freedom and individual rights: it says government should protect individual rights, enforce fair rules, and otherwise leave families and communities room to live their own…

Cotton supports local control of education, parental rights, school choice, higher teacher pay, and reduced federal involvement in Arkansas schools, according to his campaign. The campaign also says he favors a curriculum focused on reading, writing, math, history, and civics.

Shoffner supports higher pay, benefits, and support for teachers and school staff, along with workforce and technical education, apprenticeships, and community-college partnerships.

Jeff Wadlin says schools should remain focused on education rather than culture-war disputes. He also supports reducing education costs to expand access and opportunity for Arkansans, consistent with his broader affordability focus.

Cotton argues that the United States should maintain AI leadership over China for national-security and economic reasons.

Shoffner has addressed the local effects of data-center development, including the Clarksville project, and raised questions about community impacts and energy costs. No broader federal artificial-intelligence policy position was identified in the sources reviewed.

Tom Cotton supports stricter federal election-identification requirements. In March 2026, he urged the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship for federal voter registration and promote voter-ID…

Jeff Wadlin supports fair districting, easier ballot access for independent and third-party candidates, protection of Arkansas’s citizen-initiative process, and stronger open-records and political-spending disclosure rules.

Cotton’s campaign highlights defense investment and employment in Arkansas, including at the Pine Bluff Arsenal and Ebbing Air National Guard Base near Fort Smith.

Shoffner's platform emphasizes agricultural diversification, regional food systems, local processing and distribution, Farm Bill market access and risk management, and policies for rural communities.

Jeff Wadlin emphasizes solving Arkansas problems through local control and pragmatic, community-focused policy. His platform supports directing government and resources closer to residents while addressing local priorities including…