Missy Irvin

Missy Thomas Irvin (born February 12, 1971), is an employee of a medical clinic in Mountain View in Stone County in north central Arkansas and a Republican member of the Arkansas State Senate. Her District 18 includes all of Stone, Cleburne, and Searcy counties, southern Baxter and Marion counties, western Fulton and White counties, eastern Van Buren County, and northern Faulkner County.^[1]

Background

A native of the capital city of Little Rock in Central Arkansas, Irvin graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance, Political Science, and Communications from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia.^[2]

Irvin has held numerous jobs over the years, many for short durations of time. She was for five years an adjunct professor of dance at Hendrix College in Conway. She was a news editor for KATV-TV, the ABC affiliate in Little Rock. She was an advertising and marketing director for Stone County Ironworks and an independent graphic designer. She works with her husband in his medical clinic. She has long been affiliated with the Mountain View Youth Soccer Association and was a vice-president for the Arkansas State Soccer Association.^[3]

Irvin and her husband, Dr. John Dawson Irvin, have four children, Allyn, Hennelly, Josie, and Ike Irvin. The Irvins are affiliated with the First United Methodist Church of Mountain View.^[2]

Political life

Before her own campaigns, Irvin was heavily involved in the Arkansas Republican Party. She was a youthful volunteer for Ronald W. Reagan in 1980, who won the state over the Democrat Jimmy Carter. In 1990, she worked in the Sheffield Nelson campaign for governor, but he was defeated by Bill Clinton. In 1994, Irvin again worked in the second Nelson campaign as the special events coordinator, but he was beaten by the Democrat Jim Guy Tucker.^[2][3]

Irvin won election in 2010 to the District 10 seat in the Arkansas Senate vacated by the term-limited Democrat Paul Miller. She defeated the Democrat Curren Everett, 14,865 to 10,204. In 2012, Irvin won election in District 18, revised after redistricting; the incumbent Republican Jason Rapert was moved to District 35. Irvin defeated the Democrat William White and the Independent Paul White, who had been her unsuccessful Republican primary opponent in 2010. Irvin polled 22,290 votes; William White, 15,442, and Paul White, 3,540. Her current term expires in 2016.^[4] She is the Republican Assistant President Pro Tempore for the First District.^[2]

Irvin serves on the Arkansas Legislative Council and chairs the Senate Committee on City, County, and Local Affairs. She is vice chair of the Energy Committee and serves as well on (1) Budget, (2) Efficiency, and (3) Public Health, Welfare and Labor.^[2]

Irvin opposes abortion, having voted to ban the practice after twenty weeks of gestation or whenever fetal heartbeat is determined. She opposes allowing abortion to be covered in health-care plans.^[5] In 2011, she opposed a bill to ban cell phones in school zones.^[5]

In 2013, Irvin joined the Senate majority to amend state income tax rates. She voted with the majority to reduce the amount of weekly unemployment compensation benefits and to require the recipients to be screened for illegal use of narcotics. She voted successfully to override Democratic Governor Mike Beebe's veto of a bill to require photo identification when one casts a ballot in Arkansas. She sponsored legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas nonpartisan. She voted to allow handguns to be carried on church properties and to forbid the release of information on the holders of concealed carry permits. She voted to allow university staff to carry concealed weapons. She supported legislation to permit the sale of unpasteurized whole milk within the state.^[5]

Irvin was re-nominated to her state Senate seat in the Republican primary election held on May 20, 2014. She polled 64 percent of the vote against her lone intraparty challenger, Phil Grace.^[6]

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