By Jeremy Peppas
Stephens Media
NORTH LITTLE ROCK — State Sen. Tracy Steele, prevented by term limits from seeking a third four-year term in the Senate, announced today he will seek to regain his old state House seat next year.
Steele, D-North Little Rock, served two terms as House District 59 (now District 39) representative before being elected to the state Senate in 2002. He is eligible to serve another two-year term in the House under Arkansas’ term-limits amendment.
Steele, 46, likely will face current Rep. Richard Carroll in the Democratic primary. Carroll became the state’s first Green Party legislator in January after defeating two write-in candidates in the 2008 general election, then switched to the Democratic Party after this year’s legislative session.
Carroll, who previously announced for re-election, said today he was not surprised by what he characterized as a move by Steele to position himself for a possible mayoral bid in 2012.
“(Steele) hasn’t talked to me about it, but he’s done what he could to keep his name in the press,” Carroll said. “I don’t think it is any secret he wants to be mayor. Going back to the House for one term is just something to keep his name out there.”
Mayor Patrick Hays, a former House member, has not said whether he will seek a record seventh term. Steele acknowledged he has considered running for mayor.
“To be the mayor of the town where you grew up, that would be something, but I’m not going to say one way or the other,” the senator said. “I’m just going to be keeping all my options open.”
Among his legislative accomplishments, Steele cited a 2006 law that banned smoking in most workplaces in the state.
Steele’s 11 years in the Legislature has overlapped his sometimes stormy 11-year tenure as executive director of the Arkansas Martin Luther King Commission. He survived an attempted ouster in 2004. After resigning the post in 2006, he established the STAND Foundation and began publishing STAND! News.
Carroll won the District 39 seat after Democrats blocked former lawmaker Dwayne Dobbins from running for the seat he vacated in 2005 to avoid a felony sexual assault trial. Dobbins pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
Dobbins sued to get on the ballot but the state Supreme Court ruled just days before the election that he waited too long to take legal action.
