Kim Hammer is a Missionary Baptist preacher and state legislator in Arkansas. He serves in the Arkansas Senate. He is a Republican. He hosts a weekly conservative talk radio show.[1]
Hammer was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives for eight years before being elected to the state Senate in 2018.[2] He lives in Benton, Arkansas.[3]
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Arkansas, Hammer was one of several Republican state legislators who sued Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, a fellow Republican, over public health measures that he ordered to prevent the spread of the virus. An Arkansas judge dismissed the suit.[4]
In 2021, Hammer promoted Donald Trump's claim that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen"; after Trump was impeached for a second time, wrote in a Facebook post that Democrats were "enemies" and called for "political war" to be waged against them. Hammer deleted the post after it garnered criticism.[5] In 2021, as part of Republican efforts to restrict voting following Trump's defeat, Hammer introduced a bill to eliminate early voting in Arkansas on the last Monday before Election Day, a measure that voting-rights groups described as voter suppression. The bill passed the Senate on a 19 - 13 vote, but failed in the state House on a 43 - 39 vote.[6] [7]
In 2021, Hammer opposed the grant of a liquor-sales permit for a new Costco Wholesale in west Little Rock, a portion of which is in his district. Hammer wrote a letter to the director of the Alcohol Beverage Control Division, contending that the public's needs were "being adequately met by these existing businesses."[8] By contrast, Little Rock's mayor and vice mayor supported Costco's permit request.[8] The director initially denied Costco's permit application,[8] [9] but this decision was reversed after a successful appeal by Costco to the Control Board directors.[9]