{{short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder |name = Davy Carter |office = Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives |term_start = January 2013 |term_end = January 2015 |predecessor = Robert S. Moore Jr. |successor = Jeremy Gillam |state_house1 = Arkansas |district1 = 43rd |term_start1 = January 2009 |term_end1 = January 2015 |predecessor1 = |successor1 = Tim Lemons |birth_name = Russell Davis Carter |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1975|3|31}} |birth_place = |death_date = |death_place = |party = Republican |spouse = Cara Carter |education = Arkansas State University, Jonesboro (BS)<br>Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge (MBA)<br>University of Arkansas, Little Rock (JD) }} '''Russell Davis Carter''', known as '''Davy Carter''' (born March 31, 1975), is the Republican former Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives, a position which he held from 2013 to 2015. A resident of Cabot in Lonoke County, Carter represented District 43 from 2009 to 2015. Because of term limits, he was ineligible to seek reelection in 2014<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkansashouse.org/member/223/davy-carter|title=Davy Carter, R-43|publisher=arkansashouse.org|accessdate=September 10, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802083030/http://www.arkansashouse.org/member/223/davy-carter|archive-date=August 2, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> and was succeeded by fellow Cabot Republican, Tim Lemons, a civil engineer. However, the term limits were modified in 2014, and Carter's successor as Speaker, Jeremy Gillam, continued for a second term as the presiding officer in Gillam's fourth term in the House.
==Personal life==
Carter graduated from Arkansas State University at Jonesboro, Arkansas, the Louisiana State University School of Banking in Baton Rouge, and the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/103774/davy-carter|title=Representative Davy Carter's Biography|publisher=votesmart.org|accessdate=September 10, 2013}}</ref> He is CEO of Jonesboro Community Bank, a subsidiary of Home BancShares Inc. of Conway, which was formed as a result of the merger of Centennial Bank and Liberty Bank of Arkansas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/93440/davy-carter-named-regional-president-of-centennial-bank-will-oversee-liberty-bank-deal|title=Davy Carter Named Regional President of Centennial Bank, Will Oversee Liberty Bank Deal|date=9 July 2013 |publisher=Arkansas Business|accessdate=September 6, 2014}}</ref>
==Political career==
===Tenure in the Arkansas House of Representatives===
Carter ran for and was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2008 to represent the Cabot area of Lonoke County. He beat an intraparty rival in the Republican primary and was unopposed in the November election. He was selected to be Chairman of the Revenue and Taxation Committee during his second term and he served as Speaker of the House from 2013 to 2015.
In the Republican primary held on May 20, 2014, Tim Lemons succeeded Carter.<ref>{{cite web|title=Arkansas Primary Election Results, May 20, 2014|url=http://www.katv.com/story/12801589/katv-election-results|url-status=dead|publisher=KATV|accessdate=May 21, 2014|archive-date=June 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626144255/http://www.katv.com/story/12801589/katv-election-results}}</ref>
===Chairman of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee===
Carter served as Chairman of the Revenue and Taxation Committee during his second term. As Chairman, he held hearings to start the discussion of tax reform in Arkansas, during which he advocated for lower tax rates on families and businesses. “A working-class family with an annual income in the low $30,000 range is in the highest marginal tax bracket in Arkansas, even though that family’s income exceeds the federal poverty level by only $10,000 or so,” Carter said. “This needs to be addressed along with other tax ‘loopholes’ and how competitive we are with our surrounding states. Essentially, I’d like to see a broader base with lower rates across the board.”<ref>{{cite web|url=http://talkbusiness.net/2011/11/tax-chairman-wants-to-trade-exemptions-for-income-tax-reform/#sthash.Uv2CMjVG.dpuf|title=Tax Chairman Wants To Trade Exemptions For Income Tax Reform|date=28 November 2011 |publisher=Talk Business|accessdate=September 6, 2014}}</ref>
===Speaker of the House===
Carter is the first Republican Speaker since Reconstruction.<ref>One former Democratic Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives, Sterling R. Cockrill of Little Rock, later switched in 1970 to the Republican Party to run, unsuccessfully as it developed, for lieutenant governor against the Democrat Bob C. Riley.</ref> He won on a secret vote of fifty-two to forty-five against a more moderate fellow Republican, Terry Rice of Waldron in Scott County. Carter received a score of 89 from the Advance Arkansas Institute on issues of smaller government, individual freedom and lower taxes, ranking among the 10 most conservative members of the House.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.advancearkansas.org/storage/AAIVOTINGFINAL_PRINT.pdf|title=Arkansas's Freedom Scorecard: How Our State Legislators Voted on Questions of Liberty and Good Government|access-date=2014-07-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715131750/http://www.advancearkansas.org/storage/AAIVOTINGFINAL_PRINT.pdf|archive-date=2014-07-15|url-status=dead}}</ref> Carter depended on bipartisan support to win because his party controls only fifty-one of the one hundred House seats.<ref name=speaker>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/89010/arkansas-house-elects-davy-carter|title=Chuck Bartels, Arkansas House Elects Davy Carter as Speaker, 52-46, November 15, 2012|date=15 November 2012 |publisher=arkansasbusiness.com|accessdate=September 10, 2013}}</ref>
Carter was known for his good working relationship with former Democratic Governor Mike Beebe and had been mentioned as a Republican candidate to succeed Beebe in 2014. However, he declined to run for governor and instead endorsed the party's unsuccessful 2006 nominee for the post, former U.S. Representative Asa Hutchinson, who is also a former United States Secretary of Homeland Security. Hutchinson lost to Beebe by a wide margin in a heavily Democratic year<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2013/05/17/davy-carter-wont-make-race-for-governor|title=Davy Carter won't make race for governor|date=May 17, 2013|work=Arkansas Times|first=Max|last=Brantley |accessdate=July 8, 2013}}</ref> but rebounded to win the governorship in 2014. ==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Robert S. Moore, Jr.}} {{s-ttl|title=Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives|years=2013–2015}} {{s-aft|after=Jeremy Gillam}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Davy}} Category:1975 births Category:Bankers from Arkansas Category:Arkansas lawyers Category:Republican Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives Category:21st-century members of the Arkansas General Assembly Category:Arkansas State University alumni Category:Baptists from Arkansas Category:Lawyers from Little Rock, Arkansas Category:Living people Category:Louisiana State University alumni Category:People from Cabot, Arkansas Category:Politicians from Little Rock, Arkansas Category:Speakers of the Arkansas House of Representatives Category:William H. Bowen School of Law alumni