6-year run as Arkansas House speaker was 'tremendous honor," Shepherd says
Rep. Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, reflected on six years as speaker of the Arkansas House as he presided over the chamber Wednesday for what he told lawmakers would likely be his last time in the role.
By: Josh Snyder
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Rep. Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, reflected on six years as speaker of the Arkansas House as he presided over the chamber Wednesday for what he told lawmakers would likely be his last time in the role.
"At the end of the day, I just want to thank each one of you," Shepherd told lawmakers. "It's been a tremendous honor, each and every day. It's not often you have something in your life that you feel like you're devoted to every single day."
Shepherd, who took over leadership of the House in June 2018, is the longest-serving speaker of the chamber. He announced in May 2023 that he would run for reelection for his House seat but would not pursue a full fourth term as speaker.
Succeeding Shepherd will be Republican Rep. Brian Evans, R-Cabot, who was elected House speaker designate in early May, a victory that places him in line to lead the chamber next year.
Addressing representatives just before the close of the special session that began Monday and ended two days later, Shepherd touched on how the House has changed since he first became speaker, and how much his role as the chamber's leader would have surprised his grandfather.
Shepherd interned for then-Gov. Mike Huckabee in 1997, spending three days a week at the Capitol during his first legislative session. The experience was great, he said, "but it wasn't as if it was something where I said, 'I have to be here,' you know?"
Regardless, he began serving in the House in 2011. Shepherd ran unsuccessfully for the speakership and nearly didn't run a second time, he said. Others encouraged him to try again, and he ultimately succeeded then-House speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, in 2018.
Shepherd recounted the various storms the House has had to weather during his three terms, and the spirit in which he approached them.
"Even in the midst of very difficult times, such as expelling a member, and having to go through that for only the second time in the history of our Legislature, to going through covid, particularly the early days of covid and the uncertainty that existed, to then coming out of covid, I can tell you that every morning has been a lot of prayer and that every day I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve."
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