Robert F. Thompson

Robert F. Thompson (born 1971) is currently the State Senator for the 11th District of the Arkansas State Senate, which includes several counties in northeast Arkansas. From 2005 to 2007, he was a State Representative for the 78th district of the Arkansas House of Representatives, representing the city of Paragould in Greene County, Arkansas. Thompson currently practices law at the Paragould law firm of Branch, Thompson, Philhours & Warmath, P.A.

Biography

Thompson is a native of Paragould. Born at Community Methodist Hospital (now Arkansas Methodist Medical Center) in June 1971, he was raised in Paragould and attended Paragould public schools. He attended Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, graduating summa cum laude in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts in history. Following college, Thompson attended the University of St Andrews in Scotland on a Rotary Foundation Scholarship. He graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1997. In law school, he served as editor-in-chief of the Arkansas Law Review and graduated first in his class Fact|date=November 2007.

From 1997 to 1998, Thompson served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Richard S. Arnold of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Fact|date=November 2007. Later, as a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, following the death of Judge Arnold in September 2004, Thompson was a sponsor of a House Resolution celebrating the life of Judge Arnold and his contributions to the American legal system.

Thompson has been awarded two honors by the Arkansas Historical Association for his writing about Arkansas history. In 1993, he won the Lucille Westbrook Award for his essay, "The Strange Case of Paul D. Peacher, Twentieth-Century Slaveholder," The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Volume LII (Winter 1993). In 1998, he won the Violet Gingles Award for his essay, "Barefoot and Pregnant: The Education of Paul Van Dalsem," The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Volume LVII (Winter 1998) at 377, see http://archives.uca.edu/arkansas_historical_quarterly/17.pdf

Thompson is married to the former Tori Gibson of Osceola, Arkansas. They have two sons. He is an active member of the First United Methodist Church of Paragould.

Political career

In November 2004, Thompson was elected to Arkansas State House of Representatives, District 78, which includes the city of Paragould. As a member of the House, he sat on the House Judiciary Committee, the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs, and the Joint Public Retirement Committee. During the 2005 legislative session, Thompson sponsored bills that created a Drug Court for Greene County, Arkansas, strengthened laws on prosecuting sexual offenders, and addressed financial problems of recently consolidated school districts Fact|date=November 2007.

In June 2004 he was one of Arkansas Business's "40 Under 40" up-and-coming young leaders . In December 2004 he was selected as NEA Business Today's 25 Outstanding Young Professionals in northeast Arkansas. In May 2005 Thompson was named one of five "promising legislative newcomers" by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Fact|date=November 2007.

In 2006, Thompson ran for the District 11 state senate seat being vacated by State Senator Tim Wooldridge, who was forced out of office due to term limits. On May 23, Thompson defeated Paragould resident and former state representative Gary Biggs in the Democratic primary for the District 11 seat. As the Democratic nominee in the general election, Thompson defeated Republican Lloyd Clark in a landslide [http://www.arelections.org/index.php?ac:show:contest_statewide=1&elecid=130&contestid=40] , 72.36% to 27.64%.