Sixth-generation farmer Hallie Shoffner officially launched her campaign against U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton on Tuesday. The Democrat and Newport native is challenging the incumbent Republican who's seeking his third six-year term in the U.S. Senate during the 2026 election. Shoffner is a graduate of Newport High School, Vanderbilt University and the Clinton School of Public Service. In addition to running her family farm, she is also the founder and CEO of Delta Harvest, which builds local food infrastructure, supports farmers and brings opportunities back to struggling communities, according to the release. Hallie Shoffner defeated Ethan Dunbar in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Arkansas on March 3, 2026.
Hallie Shoffner is a 6th generation farmer and small-business owner running for the U.S. Senate to fight for working families. Hallie grew up in Shoffner, a small farming community in the Arkansas Delta, raised in the fields alongside her farmer parents - learning to grow soybeans, rice, corn, cotton, and wheat. For the past nine years, she operated the family farm - making payroll, working with lenders and insurers, and balancing the realities of farming while raising a family. Like so many working parents, she knows the strain of long days and the hope of building a better future for her young son. After a devastating year of rising costs, bad markets, new tariffs and no meaningful Farm Bill relief, Hallie made the hardest decision of her life: closing the farm to protect her parents' land and retirement.