Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Sanders backs comprehensive maternal-health reform via the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act, expanding prenatal care and related services through presumptive Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women, expanded telemedicine, and increased reimbursement for obstetric services, doulas, and community health workers.

Budget priorities center on limiting government growth and continuing to phase out the state income tax, funded by disciplined spending. The governor proposes a 3% general-revenue increase for the upcoming fiscal year, substantial funding for Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs) and state employee pay raises, and ongoing consideration of additional income tax cuts after the fiscal session.

Sanders continues to prioritize affordable, reliable energy and investment in energy infrastructure. She has issued Executive Order 26-04 to streamline permitting across state agencies for energy and infrastructure projects, with clear timelines and real-time updates, while maintaining environmental safeguards.

Sanders opposes abortion rights and has defended Arkansas’s abortion restrictions.

Sanders supports aggressive immigration enforcement, including cooperation with federal immigration authorities and use of the Arkansas National Guard to assist ICE.

Sanders signed HB1117/Act 229 in 2025, requiring annual, age-appropriate gun safety instruction in public schools and open-enrollment public charter schools, starting in the 2025-2026 school year; this policy places gun safety education centrally in K-12 curricula.

Sanders has advanced a state-focused national security posture, aligning with the Trump administration's border and security priorities. She introduced the Communist China Defense Legislative Package to divest state resources from China, ban foreign adversaries from buying land around critical infrastructure, and block CCP-linked influence; she has also directed the Arkansas National Guard to assist ICE and bolster border enforcement, signaling a more active, security-first foreign policy stance for Arkansas.

Sanders’s public messaging emphasizes conservative values, public order, and institutional support rather than equity-focused social-justice policy.

Sanders’s budget and policy agenda prioritize Arkansas LEARNS, teacher pay, and Education Freedom Accounts.

Sanders continues to push for AI adoption in Arkansas state government with safeguards for privacy, cybersecurity, transparency, and ethical use; she has established and expanded the AI CoE to guide governance (including a Chief AI Officer and NIST-aligned standards) and supports removing the AI regulatory moratorium from federal legislation to empower state regulation.

Supports strengthening election integrity by backing the SAVE America Act to require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, and promotes DHS funding tied to enhancing election security.

Sanders’s fiscal-session priorities include education, prison construction and public safety, and continued tax cuts.