Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton praised former President Donald Trump’s leadership and compassion in short speeches Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention.

Cotton’s remarks in Milwaukee focused on immigration. He criticized President Joe Biden’s immigration policies and said Trump’s policies during his term in office made the United States more secure.

“Our choice is a border secure for everyone or Biden’s open border,”  he told the crowd in the FiServ Forum.

Cotton was one of several speakers Tuesday who contrasted Trump’s border and foreign policies with that of the Biden administration.

“Donald Trump will secure our border once again,” Cotton said. “Donald Trump will protect America once again.”

Sanders, who was Trump’s press secretary from 2017 to 2019, spoke about how she was vilified by some in the media and denied service at a restaurant, saying that Trump defended her and told her, “They attack you because you’re good at your job.”

“That’s the Donald Trump I know and will always respect,” she said.

“The left doesn’t care about empowering women,” Sanders said, repeating a statement she’s made before that they “can’t even tell you what a woman is.”

 “President Trump believes in empowering every American, and that our country is worth fighting for,” she said.

Under Trump, she said, “America was safer. The world was safer. It felt like the next generation would have a chance at the American Dream. President Trump did the job that Kamala won’t and Joe Biden simply can’t. Every American knows we were better off under President Trump…”

Sanders, elected governor in 2022 at age 40, took a swipe at Biden’s age when she recalled taking her 4-year-old son Huck to “Bring Your Kid to Work Day” at the White House “— much like Jill now drags Joe to Bring Your Husband to Work Day.”

Sanders, whose father Mike Huckabee is a Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor, ended her remarks with religious tones that echoed other speakers. 

“We are not called to stand still in the face of great danger. You and I were put on this earth, at this moment in time, to charge boldly ahead. We can’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future in His hands.”

Referring to Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump, she said God spared him “because God isn’t finished with him yet.

“He isn’t finished with America yet either. With God as our Guide, and President Trump back in the White House, we will show the world that America is the place where freedom reigns and liberty will never die.”

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Donald Bobbitt, the president of the University of Arkansas system, said Tuesday he is retiring after leading the state’s largest university system for nearly 13 years.

Bobbitt notified the university’s Board of Trustees that he plans to retire Jan. 15, or earlier, if a successor is selected before that date. Kelly Eichler, the board’s chair, said she planned to call a meeting in the coming days to discuss a plan for a national search for Bobbitt’s replacement.

Bobbitt said he was grateful to serve with the colleagues and staff throughout the UA system, which includes the flagship university in Fayetteville.

“Each and every day they carry out the complex responsibilities of their position, keeping first and forefront the mission of this system to serve Arkansas and its citizens,” Bobbitt said in a statement. “It has equally been an honor to serve the many students across the UA System and help them achieve the dream of improving their lives through higher education.”

Bobbitt has served as UA system president since Nov. 1, 2011. He succeeded B. Alan Sugg, who led the system for 21 years. Bobbitt began his first faculty job as an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 1985.

Bobbitt oversaw an expansion of the system during his tenure, including the addition of the UA-Pulaski Technical College and UA-Rich Mountain Community College in 2016 and the pending addition of East Arkansas Community College later this year.

“Dr. Bobbitt has been a truly outstanding leader for the UA System and higher education in our state for more than a decade,” Eichler said in a statement. “His steadfast, calm approach to the role of president has not only provided a steady hand at the helm of the system, but it has also allowed other excellent leaders to emerge across our campuses.”

Bobbitt’s contract was extended last year, despite facing opposition over his handling of a potential affiliation between the system and the University of Phoenix, one of the nation’s largest for-profit college companies. The board ultimately voted against an affiliation with Phoenix.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas secretary of state continues to maintain his rejection of the signatures to place an abortion amendment on the November 2024 ballot was correct.

Secretary of State John Thurston responded to a Thursday letter from Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG) on Monday, stating “My position remains unchanged.”

At issue are the paperwork accompanying the ballot petition signatures and the use of paid canvassers by AFLG. In this letter Monday, Thurston stated the group had failed to turn in all of the required paperwork accompanying the signatures and had not turned in the paperwork at the same time it turned in the signatures, two points of failure to comply with the law. 

Failure on these two points led to AFLG’s submission being rejected, Thurston’s letter stated.

AFLG turned in 101,525  signatures at the secretary of state’s office on the July 5 deadline to place access to abortion before voters on the November ballot. By state law, to place an amendment on the ballot requires 90,704 signatures of voters supporting it, certified by the secretary.

On July 10, Thurston sent a letter to the group stating that its signatures were rejected in accordance with state law. The letter stated that AFLG has used some paid canvassers, but it did not include paperwork naming the canvassers and affirming they had followed the law for gathering signatures.

Because paid canvassers had gathered 14,143 signatures, those were now invalid, the letter stated, meaning AFLG had turned in 87,832 signatures, a number below the required threshold.

AFLG followed up with a letter stating it had submitted the required paperwork in June and stating the Secretary of State is required to count all the signatures while the paperwork is being disputed. Thurston refuted this in the Monday letter, stating that the paperwork must be turned in at the same time as the signatures.

AFLG was contacted for a response to Thurston’s letter, but one has not been received prior to this story being published. If a response is made this story will be updated.