Leslie Carol Rutledge is an American lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Arkansas. A member of the Republican Party, she is the 56th attorney general of Arkansas, a position Rutledge has held since January 13, 2015. She is the first Republican and woman to hold the position.
Rutledge sought the Republican nomination for Attorney General of Arkansas in the 2014 election. She faced fellow attorneys Patricia Nation and David Sterling. Rutledge finished with a plurality in the primary but finished with less than 50 percent of the vote. She hence faced second-place finisher David Sterling in a runoff election. Nation endorsed Rutledge, and she defeated Sterling. In September 2014, County ClerkLarry Crane of Pulaski County canceled Rutledge's voter registration when he discovered that Rutledge had registered to vote in Washington, D.C. She re-registered in Pulaski County. Notably, during the 2014 AETN Televised Debate, Leslie Rutledge compared smart phones to "the devil". https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lg5h1Av-RcQ Rutledge defeated Democratic Party nominee Nate Steel, a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, and Libertarian Party nominee Aaron Cash, in the general election. She is the first Republican and woman thus far to have been elected Attorney General of Arkansas. In 2016, Rutledge stated that she would appeal a ruling supporting LGBTanti-discrimination laws enacted in Fayetteville, Arkansas, that is in opposition to a state law prohibiting these ordinances. In July 2017, Texas Attorney GeneralKen Paxton led a group of Republican Attorneys General from nine other states, including Rutledge, plus Idaho Governor Butch Otter, in threatening the Donald Trump administration that they would litigate if the president did not terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that had been put into place by president Barack Obama. Tennessee Attorney GeneralHerbert Slatery subsequently reversed his position and withdrew his participation from the proposed suit on August 31. Slatery went further to urge passage of the DREAM Act. The other Attorneys General who joined in making the threats against Trump included Steve Marshall of Alabama, Lawrence Wasden of Idaho, Derek Schmidt of Kansas, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Doug Peterson of Nebraska, Alan Wilson of South Carolina, and Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia. In June 2017, Rutledge again rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment to legalize casino gambling in the state. She rejected the proposal by Barry Emigh of Hot Springs, writing that the proposed popular name and ballot title are "misleading and wholly deficient." Rutledge ran for re-election to the office of Attorney General in 2018 against Democratic nominee Mike Lee and Libertarian nominee Kerry Hicks. With 98% percent of precincts reporting, Rutledge led with 61.97% of the vote. Lee and Hicks received 35.25% and 2.78% of the vote, respectively. In 2019, Attorneys General from all 50 U.S. States including AG Rutledge, the District of Columbia, and all four U.S. territories were urged by NAAG to support a bill, the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, which would permit marijuana-related businesses in states and territories to use the banking system. The bill would facilitate collection of taxes levied on the $8.3 billion industry, reduce the danger of operating cash-only businesses and more effectively monitor the industry.
Constituent outreach
Rutledge has hosted "Rutledge Roundtables" with constituents in all 75 Arkansas counties each year. She has also established a Public Integrity Division, and held mobile offices annually in every county. Rutledge also founded a Military and Veterans Initiative and a Cooperative Disability Investigations program. Rutledge is a self-described defender of the Second Amendment, religious freedom, and pro-life values.
Personal life
In 2013, Rutledge met Boyce Johnson, a farmer, at a convention for the American Farm Bureau Federation. Johnson graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1982 with a B.S. degree in agriculture. He formerly served as President of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food, and Life Sciences Alumni Society board of directors. The couple wed in December 2015. In April 2018, Rutledge announced she was expecting her first child. In July 2018, Rutledge gave birth to a daughter. She was the first Arkansas constitutional officer to give birth while holding office.
