Copyright Arkansas Times
Barely a day after news broke that the estranged wife of Rep. Brad Hall (R-Rudy) accused him of sexually assaulting her and forcing her to have sex with other men, former state Rep. Charlene Fite (R-Van Buren) announced she is getting back into politics and will challenge Hall in the 2026 Republican primary for House District 24. “Late this afternoon I filed for State Representative District 24,” Fite wrote in a post on Facebook on Wednesday evening. “I never planned to run again, but it seems God and the state weren’t finished with me.” Fite was first elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2012. She took office in 2013 and served through 2023. In August 2023, Fite announced she would not seek reelection for a sixth term because “there are seasons in life” and she was “entering a new season.” Twenty-seven months and one nascent scandal from her replacement later, however, and Fite is ready to jump back into the legislative fray. In an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Fite did not comment on Hall or the allegations against him. She said her focus was on problems with the state’s foster care system, children’s advocacy centers and senior centers. “Those were all things that were very dear to my heart,” Fite told the newspaper, “so I feel I have more work to do and I want to come back and complete the work that I started.” During her decade in the Legislature, Fite sponsored bills limiting abortion access, increasing penalties for certain crimes, attempting to repeal Medicaid expansion, seeking tax breaks for specific charities, promoting “religious freedom,” and pushing other Republican culture-war tropes. Fite’s announcement came shortly after news began spreading that Hall, the incumbent Republican in the race, had been accused in divorce filings of physically and sexually abusing his wife, forcing her to engage in sexual relationships with other men (including one who took her to an unknown location and raped her) and engaging in multiple extramarital affairs. Hall has denied those accusations and has accused his wife of having an affair as well. The preferential primary election will be held on March 3, 2026. No Democrat has announced his or her candidacy for the race so far.
