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Who is Asa Hutchinson, Republican candidate for president?

Hutchinson served as the governor of Arkansas until January

FILE - Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson formally announces his Republican campaign for president, April 26, 2023, in Bentonville, Ark. In the coming weeks, at least four additional candidates are expected to launch their own presidential campaigns, joining a field that already includes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Hutchinson, tech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy and several longer-shots like conservative talk radio host Larry Elder. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File) (Sue Ogrocki, Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Some of the current candidates for president are either rapid risers in the political world, or simply have no experience at all holding a political office.

Asa Hutchinson certainly doesn’t fit in any of those categories, as he has both paid his dues and gained experience serving in a variety of offices. The 72-year-old Hutchinson, who was the governor of Arkansas until January, announced his candidacy for president in April.

Hutchinson served as the Administrator for the Drug Enforcement Administration and as the Under Secretary of Homeland Security and Border and Transportation Security under George W. Bush and then mounted an unsuccessful bid for governor of Arkansas in 2006.

In 2014, Hutchinson gave it another shot, and this time was elected governor of Arkansas, a post he held until leaving in January.

Hutchinson lost an election for U.S. Senate in 1986, but ended up winning a bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996.

He served there until 2001.

Before starting his political career, Hutchinson was an attorney, being in appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.


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