Miss Arkansas takes on Ross

A former beauty queen traded the pageant for politics on Thursday by filing for office to take on a four-term U.S. Congressman in South Arkansas.

Beth Anne Rankin, Miss Arkansas 1994, filed for office in the Fourth Congressional District on Thursday as a Republican. Rankin, of Magnolia, becomes the second Republican to file for the opportunity to take on U.S. Representative Mike Ross, D-Ar., in the general election. Hot Springs resident Glenn Gallas filed as a Republican on Wednesday.

“All my life, I have been taught the value of service, integrity, responsibility and living within your means,” Rankin said in a statement issued Thursday. “Like many Arkansans, I have been watching with great interest an deep disappointment the current direction of leadership in Washington, D.C. Government is growing too big, too fast, and at too perilous a cost for future generations of Americans to bear. I want to be a leader courageous enough to take a stand against the status quo and offer the people a brighter vision for the future of this great nation.”

Rankin received one notable endorsement at the outset, that of former Arkansas governor and GOP presidential contender Mike Huckabee.

“Beth Anne Rankin was still a college student when I first met her,” Huckabee said in a Thursday statement. “I have watched her as she successfully navigated a varied career path through entertainment, politics, government service, and small business. In all of those endeavors, she has excelled and proven her tenacity for the tough tasks.

“She is prepared and capable of being a great member of Congress who actually represents the people instead of Washington special interests,” he said. “Her time has come.”

Rankin served in several capacities during Huckabee's tenure as governor, including liaison and policy advisor to the National Governors' Association, Southern Governors' Association, Council of State Governments, Southern Regional Education Board, and as a liaison to Congress and the White House. She also served as Huckabee's coordinator for the Governor's Summit on Economic Development.

Reared in Magnolia, Rankin graduated from Magnolia High School with honors in 1984, attended Southern Arkansas University there and graduated magna cum laude from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia. She was crowned Miss Arkansas in 1994, and from there has served with the the Martin Luther King, Jr., Commission, Arkansas Teen Challenge, Daisy Gatson Bates Holiday Planning Committee, Magnolia Arts Council and Columbia County Chamber of Commerce.

Rankin is a member of the National Rifle Association, women's education group PEO, Locks of Love and the Make a Wish Foundation of Arkansas. She is the owner and operator of Beth Anne Productions in Magnolia, where she teaches piano and voice.

“Today I offer my voice to the people of the Fourth District of Arkansas to go to Washington and serve as your member of Congress,” she said Thursday. “Americans want their government to work efficiently, responsibly, and to listen to the people. As a small business owner, I know first-hand the challenges businesses face from an overbearing government. We must make tough choices to get our economy moving, create jobs and allow small businesses to flourish.”

Ross, who is seeking his fifth term in the U.S. House, has faced consistent questioning from constituents through the past year over the development of a national health care package, much of which he has opposed on fiscal grounds. He is among the leadership of a House caucus, the Blue Dog Democrats, which has not always agreed with what has been considered a growing liberal philosophy among the Democratic leadership.

Ross is the only member of the Arkansas Congressional delegation seeking re-election to office this year. Representatives Marion Berry and Vic Snyder have announced their retirement, and Congressman John Boozman, a Republican, has challenged U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, D-Ar.