Copyright Arkansas Online
Businesswoman Supha Xayprasith-Mays of Bentonville on Tuesday announced her bid for governor in the 2026 elections, four years after making an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for governor. She will seek the Democratic nomination for governor in the March 3 primary, her campaign director Linda Malone said. Xayprasith-Mays posted a video on Facebook to announce her candidacy. "I am running for governor of Arkansas, the beautiful natural state of which I call home," she said in her brief video. "I am a very proud former Walmart corporate associate for Bentonville headquarters, where I learned that to be successful in business, in any business, you must put people first." She said she is an entrepreneur, a wife, a mother and a proud grandmother. She is founder and president of Inclusion Media LL & Inclusion Job Inc. Xayprasith-Mays said human empowerment is her mission and she is compelled to serve a higher purpose. "I am not a politician," she said. "I am a peopletician. I am not concerned about who I am running against because I know who I am running for -- the people of Arkansas." Xayprasmith-Mays said she has been translating since she was 9 years old to help her Asian community and to uplift anyone who needed it. "I want to serve you," she said in her campaign video. "Join me in this human rights campaign, which is about you and us." According to its news release, the Supha for Governor campaign will be launched on a pro-inclusion, pro-education, pro-healthcare, pro-empowerment and pro-green technology platform that will champion "a PEOPLE1st INCLUSION." Her announcement of her gubernatorial campaign comes with the party filing period starting on Monday and ending on Nov. 11 at the state Capitol. In June, state Sen. Fred Love, D-Little Rock, announced his own bid for the Democratic nomination for governor in the 2026. Love has served in the state Senate since 2023 and previously served in the House of Representatives from 2011 until 2023. He is barred from seeking re-election under the state's term limits amendment. Love said Tuesday afternoon that "I have no comment (about Xayprasith-May's announcement) because I was not aware of it." Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Love are the only two candidates who have filed campaign finance reports as candidates for governor in 2026, according to the secretary of state's website. Sanders has served as governor since 2023 and will be seeking reelection to her second four-year term as governor in 2026. She served as a stint as White House press secretary during President Trump's first year in office and is the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who now serves as the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
