Jim Holt

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Jim Holt (born 1965) is a conservative Republican politician from Springdale, Arkansas. He was born in Camden in Ouachita County. He attended the University of Maryland in College Park.

He served in the Arkansas House from 2001-2003 and the Arkansas Senate from [[20023]-2005. He ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Blanche Lincoln for United States Senate in 2004. He polled 44 percent of the vote in spite of being heavily outspent by the Democrats.

In 2005 he announced his candidacy for the office of lieutenant governor and won the Republican nomination on May 24, 2006 by a substantial margin [link]. Incumbent Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, a fellow Republican, but one much more liberal than Holt, did not seek reelection. Holt now faces the liberal Democrat Bill Halter, a favorite of Bill and Hillary Clinton in the November 7, 2006 general election.

Holt is a veteran of the United States Army where he served as an Intelligence Analyst for the National Security Agency.

He is an ordained Southern Baptist minister and is married and is the father of eight children.

Criticism and controversy

In April 2001, Holt had anti-scientist Kent Hovind speak before a committee at Arkansas House of Representatives. Using widely debunked data from Jonathan Wells' "Icons of Evolution" work and Hovind, a man with no academic background in science, Holt pushed an "anti evolution" bill through the house, ultimately failing (House Bill 2548[link]). (Don Michael, "The Hovind connection: Check your facts, legislators." Northwest Arkansas Times. April 05, 2001)

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