Arkansas has never sent a Black person to Congress. Chris Jones is ahead in his race.

Arkansas has never elected a Black member of Congress. Chris Jones, a Democrat from Little Rock, is trying to change that on Nov. 3, and the one public poll of the race shows him ahead.

Jones, 49, is challenging Republican Rep. French Hill in the 2nd Congressional District. Arkansas is the only former Confederate state that has never sent a Black person to Congress or elected one to statewide office, a fact Jones cites on the trail. A win would end that.

The poll, from Talk Business & Politics and Hendrix College, put Jones at 48% and Hill at 44%. It surveyed 1,112 likely voters in the district on Aug. 11 and 12, with a margin of error of 5.3 percentage points, so the race is a statistical tie, and the poll is more than two months old. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has put Jones in its Red to Blue program for competitive challengers.

The map he is running on is part of the story. After the 2020 census, Arkansas lawmakers split Pulaski County, home to Little Rock and the state’s largest concentration of Black voters, among three congressional districts. A group of Black voters sued, saying the split weakened their voting power. A federal court dismissed the lawsuit in 2024. The 2nd District has been Republican-held since 2011 and has been Hill’s since 2015.

Hill, a banker who founded Community Bank in Little Rock, chairs the House Financial Services Committee. His campaign points to the Price Stability Act of 2026 and the Lower Energy Costs Act of 2023.

Jones lost the 2022 race for governor to Sarah Huckabee Sanders. He has a doctorate in urban studies and planning from MIT, is an ordained minister, and previously ran the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub. His pitch is about household budgets. “In the last 10 years their lives have not improved. And they’re asking for a new direction,” he told UA Little Rock Public Radio. He also says Arkansas is “the hungriest state in the union” and that children there go to bed hungry.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris has endorsed him, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg headlined a rally for him in Little Rock.

Early voting began Oct. 19. Election Day is Nov. 3.