Arkansas congressional candidate Monte Hodges says 2003 allegation is false, won’t stop campaign

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WASHINGTON—State Rep. Monte Hodges announced Wednesday that he was falsely accused of child molestation about two decades ago and he is staying in the race for Arkansas’ 1st Congressional District.

Hodges, in an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday, said he was never charged and never arrested and was exonerated through the investigative process.

The allegation surfaced in 2003, Hodges said.

Hodges says his opponents have threatened him with the allegation for years as he ran for public office. The state in 2008 investigated the allegations when they allowed Hodges and his wife to adopt their son, according to the lawmaker.

“Over the last month, people I know and have worked with in politics and business have come to me trying to push me out of this race because of baseless allegations made against me nearly two decades ago,” he said in a statement sent to the Democrat Gazette.

Hodges earlier this year announced he was running for the state’s 1st Congressional District, setting up a Democratic bid for a seat the party has not won in more than a decade. The incumbent is US Rep. Rick Crawford, a Republican from Jonesboro.

Hodges is a banker who represents state House District 55, which covers part of Blytheville.

The state lawmaker says he is continuing his congressional campaign.

“I’m running for the overlooked. I’m running for the cast aside. I’m running for the voiceless,” he said in a statement.

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