PEOPLE  //  Politics

Vortex PAC Launches to Transform Arkansas Politics Away From the Far Right

by Dianna D. Donahue - 02.08.2023

Vortex Pac

​“If you’re with me, I need your help right now. I’m asking you to become a founding donor to the Vortex PAC, and let’s take the swarm to D.C. in 2024.”

​Dr. Chris Jones, Arkansas’ first Black major-party nominee for governor and the 2022 Democratic nominee for governor of Arkansas, recently launched Vortex PAC. It is a new grassroots movement co-founded by Jones, to transform politics in Arkansas away from far-right extremism and build Democratic organizing power.
 
Vortex will be utilized to recruit, train, and support Democratic candidates to flip all four of Arkansas’ U.S. congressional districts and transform Arkansas politics by building organizing power for Democrats in all 75 counties.
 
Jones’ 2022 campaign focused on choosing community over chaos and uniting Arkansans around issues of common interest across the state, including education, infrastructure, and jobs. He launched Vortex PAC as his 2022 opponent and current Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered the Republican rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. In her rebuttal, Sanders seemed to resume her former role as a spokesperson for former U.S. President Donald Trump, spreading misinformation and hysteria and fomenting division.
 
Up against a candidate with unprecedented political advantage and privilege, Jones exceeded expectations while building a grassroots movement of extraordinary ordinary Arkansans willing to invest and work hard to choose community over chaos. He aims to help win back the House majority in 2024 by building the grassroots movement, Vortex PAC, to bring long-term political change to Arkansas.
 
Jones made the following statement:

“Today, we launched Vortex PAC, an all-new grassroots movement that will transform Arkansas politics by building organizing power for Democrats in all 75 counties. Our first objective is to replace all four of the Arkansas Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
 
“Gerrymandering and voter suppression has played a significant role in keeping these far-right politicians in power in our beautiful state. The only way to change that is to build the infrastructure we need to get better people elected – representatives who will actually listen to us and stand for our values.
 
“I know this is a heavy lift, and I also know we can do it.
 
“If you followed my campaign for governor closely, you may have heard me tell the story of the bumblebee. Years ago, scientists determined that it was aerodynamically impossible for the bumblebee to fly – their bodies are too big and their wings are too small. But someone forgot to tell the bumblebee because they’ve been flying all along.
 
“We know now that bumblebees work hard, and by flapping their wings they create a vortex that lifts them up and makes them fly. And that’s just what we’re going to do here in Arkansas. We are the vortex, and together we will rise up.”

To learn more about this effort to flip all four Arkansas U.S. Congressional Districts, go to www.VortexPAC.com.