Why Arkansas Is a Test Case for a Post-Trump Republican Party

Sarah Huckabee Sanders seems likely to bring the Trump brand to Arkansas politics in a big way. But the state is a testing ground for different possible futures for the party.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — For decades, Arkansas punched above its weight in politics and business. In the 1990s, it was home to the president and the world’s wealthiest family. In the 2000s, three onetime Arkansans ran for president. A decade later, the state claimed its sixth company on the Fortune 500 list. But Arkansas may be entering its most consequential period yet, as a test case for the future of the Republican Party.