John Thurston, Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands, is running for Secretary of State. Thurston’s office provided the following announcement regarding his campaign:
Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands, John Thurston was first elected in November of 2010 and is currently serving his second, and final, term in office. This past fall, John announced his candidacy for Secretary of State and has been hot on the campaign trail ever since! In his role as Land Commissioner, John served as chairman of the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council and was nominated as president of the Western State Land Commissioners Association where he served with Texas State Land Commissioner, George P. Bush.
John believes he will bring a wealth of knowledge from the Land Commissioner’s office to the office of Secretary of State. Like the State Land Commissioner’s office, the Secretary of State is an administrative constitutional office, not a legislative office, and its primary function is to carry out the duties assigned to it by the people of Arkansas. John is excited about the future of the Secretary of State’s office in continuing to build its business services division, trimming and keeping a conservative budget, obtaining more voting machines, and re-drawing fair and honest lines when it comes time for re-districting in 2021. He is also excited about working with the building and grounds commission, the Secretary of State staff, and the Capitol police to come up with new programs and ways of making our state capitol a place that welcomes and invites it’s citizens to use the facilities. Our state capitol belongs not only to the government officials and legislators who govern, but to the people it was built to serve and John is excited about utilizing the Capitol for it’s full potential.
John was born in Little Rock and was raised in Saline County. He graduated from Sheridan High School in 1991 and attended Henderson State University in Arkadelphia before graduating from Agape College in Little Rock with a diploma in Biblical Studies. John was a licensed minister and was a Certified Religious Assistant in the Arkansas state prison system. He served 13 years on the staff at the Agape Church in West Little Rock.
John still resides in Saline County with his wife, Joanna, and their five children. He is also an avid outdoorsman and loves to discuss his passion for fishing and hunting!
