Jeremy Hutchinson (politician)

Jeremy Young Hutchinson (born March 4, 1974) is a Republican member of the Arkansas State Senate from District 22. He formerly served as well in the Arkansas House of Representatives from two different districts in Pulaski County.^[1]

In March 2000, he was first elected at the age of twenty-six as the then youngest member of the Arkansas House. Hutchinson was subsequently re-elected three times. Hutchinson served on the House Judiciary and Insurance and Commerce committees. He also served as vice-chair of the Joint Energy Committee. He was the assistant minority leader from 2002 to 2004.

In November 2004, Jeremy Hutchinson's identical twin brother, Timothy Chad Hutchinson, was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives from another district. This marked the first time that twins had served together in the Arkansas legislature. Jeremy and Timothy are the sons of former U.S. Senator Tim Hutchinson and nephews of former Congressman and former Undersecretary of Homeland Security, Asa Hutchinson. Jeremy Hutchinson was named to Arkansas Business' 40 under 40 in 2002. He serves on the board of the Arkansas Council on Economic Education.

On August 4, 2009, Hutchinson announced his intent to run for the Arkansas State Senate. On May 18, 2010, he defeated Dan Greenberg in the Republican primary, 58-42 percent. On November 2, 2010, Hutchinson defeated Democrat nominee Dawn Creekmore to claim the District 22 Senate seat.

In 2007, Hutchinson's mother, Donna Jean King Hutchinson of Bella Vista, Arkansas, the divorced first wife of former Senator Tim Hutchinson, began serving in the state House from District 98 in Benton County. Donna Hutchinson was term-limited and ineligible to seek a fourth two-year term in the House in 2012.

Hutchinson is a nephew by marriage of former State Senator Kim Hendren of Gravette in Benton County, who was an unsuccessful Republican primary candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010. Hendren is seeking the District 92 state House seat from Benton County in the 2014 Republican primary.^[2]Kim Hendren's son, Jim Hendren of Benton County, is a state Senate colleague of his cousin Jeremy Hutchinson.

Hutchinson filed for divorce less than a month after he was sworn into the state Senate in 2011. He and his spouse both used alternate forms of their names in that filing; he filed for divorce under the name "Young Hutchinson." ^[3] He is currently single. On September 4, 2012, Hutchinson's ex-girlfriend, Julie McGee, was arrested for third-degree domestic battery at Hutchinson's Chenal Woods (Little Rock) condominium after she hit Hutchinson with a preserved alligator head, leaving him with a bleeding wound. According to journalist Max Brantley, McGee had said that she had a financial support agreement with Hutchinson. ^[4] Shortly thereafter, Hutchinson formally requested that the prosecuting attorney drop the battery charges so that he could "move on without any further embarrassment. ^[5]

Hutchinson recently participated in "active shooter" training and mistakenly shot a teacher who was confronting a so-called "bad guy". The experience gave Hutchinson "some pause" but failed to shake his confidence in the plan.^[6]

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