Dr. Chris Jones: The Arkansas Race That Could Shock the World | At Our Table

We sit down with Dr. Chris Jones, the Democratic nominee in Arkansas' 2nd Congressional District, as he takes on House Financial Services Chair French Hill.

A Pine Bluff native who went to Morehouse on a NASA scholarship and earned three graduate degrees from MIT, he brings a scientist's question to politics: where do you get the most leverage to help people? We discuss his debate with Hill, how tariffs and the Iran war are squeezing Arkansas farmers, Medicaid cuts that put rural hospitals at risk, and the redistricting that moved 25,000 voters out of the district, while confronting a hard truth: Arkansas gets overlooked, and that lets it become an incubator for some of the nation's worst policies.

His challenge is clear: Democrats have to make the long-term investment, break the soil, and keep it broken. (0:00) Meet Dr. Chris Jones: From MIT to the Ballot in Arkansas (3:10) What His Wife Said When He Wanted to Run (6:37) Why Politics?

His Grandfather's Two Rules (9:05) 2022 Lessons: Walking a Sundown Town at Sundown (12:00) Why Congress, Why Now: "The Front Line Was Congress" (15:18) Debate Night vs. French Hill: "He Was Squirming" (18:24) How Tariffs, the Iran War & Medicaid Cuts Hit Arkansas (23:28) "That's Not Independence.

That's Fecklessness." (25:00) Red to Blue & Out-Raising French Hill (31:50) How 25,000 Voters Were Moved Out of the District (35:20) "Break the Soil": How Democrats Rebuild in the South (38:50) Chicken Spaghetti & a Weekend in Arkansas (40:50) Sit Your Ass Down Award (45:25) What He Hopes His Daughters Understand (47:30) The Bumblebee That Wasn't Supposed to Fly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit