The chair of the Arkansas Democratic Party is resigning after four years at the helm of the organization, according to a Monday news release.
The party credited Grant Tennille, who will step down July 15, with rescuing the state Democratic Party from “financial insolvency” and increasing Democratic representation in the Arkansas Legislature for the first time in decades. He also oversaw the party’s return to ethical compliance with Federal Election Commission rules, according to the release.
After Tennille’s departure, party Vice Chair Jannie Cotton will act as interim chair until new elections are held. Those elections will occur within 60 days per party rules, the release said.
Tennille, 55, said in a statement that it has been “an honor” to serve the party during his four years as chair. The role had him in the office for 50 to 60 hours a week, he said, adding that he was “weary” and missing too much time with his family.
“That work has helped the Party begin to rebuild trust and grow again, but it has come at a personal cost,” Tennille said. “Next year promises to be the most demanding yet, and it is better to step aside today, to allow the new chair to plan for ’26, preside over candidate filing and hit the ground next year with a few months’ experience under their belt.”
It isn’t the first time Tennille has resigned from his post citing the exhaustion that accompanies running the party. He first announced he was stepping down in 2022 after 14 months on the job, after resolving a debt crisis that saw the state party max out its credit cards and mortgage its headquarters, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The debt issues also caused the party to run afoul of federal election law, with the Federal Election Commission citing it in 2021 for not disclosing information about approximately $350,000 of debt.
Tennille said the party’s cashflow issues were so severe when he assumed his post that he resorted to fixing toilets at the party’s Capitol Avenue headquarters himself instead of hiring a plumber to save money, the Democrat-Gazette reported.
Two months after stepping down in 2022, Tennille was once again nominated for the top job after two Democratic former state senators persuaded him to run.
Then, in 2024, Democrats had their first net gain in Arkansas’ Legislature for the first time in 18 years, breaking a backslide that had turned the party from the dominant political force in the state for well over a century to not having enough seats to break a GOP supermajority in either chamber.
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