Jay is a born-again, Spirit-filled follower of Jesus Christ, who values the Bible as his guidebook for living. He is a husband, a father, and the guardian of his mentally-ill father. Jay is a Pro-Life Democrat, who values life from conception to death.
Jay also values the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as sacred documents, which he has sworn to defend, and which serve as the compass for his public service. Jay has a strong record defending freedoms of religion, the press, association, speech, gun ownership rights, as well as all liberties afforded to “We, the People.”
Jay has been fighting to protect Arkansans for over two decades as a practicing attorney and policy-maker. In that capacity, he serves as the president of Wallace, Martin Duke & Russell, P.L.L.C. where he assists individuals, small businesses, and the poor and vulnerable.
In the policy arena, Jay served as State Representative from 2003-2006, where he worked to limit the size of State Government to strengthen the safety nets for the vulnerable, fought for stronger penalties against child and spouse abusers, and wrote and sponsored “Internet Stalking of a Minor” which is now widely used by law enforcement to prevent child abductions.
As Majority Leader in the 85th General Assembly from 2005-2006, Jay led the fight to lower healthcare costs for Arkansans. He fought to improve early childhood education, increase accountability in state government spending and decrease crime and recidivism.
Jay believes Arkansas’ local issues are more important than Washington politics or party labels. He strives for unity. As Majority Leader, he created the bipartisan committee, where Democrats and Republicans worked together on important legislation.
Jay is an Ordained Assemblies of God minister, who, as a volunteer, has led an inner-city church in the South End of Little Rock, Metro Worship Center, since 1998, which is now Metro LR, a campus church of First Assembly of God, North Little Rock.
Jay will fight to see that Arkansas is second to none.