Hallie Shoffner, a Democrat seeking to unseat Republican U.S. Senator Tom Cotton in Arkansas, worked with the Lima-based nonprofit PROMSEX in 2010. An archived personal blog post cited by the Daily Wire says she marched at the front of that year’s Pride parade; her current campaign materials emphasize her background as a farmer.
Hallie Shoffner, a sixth‑generation farmer from Newport, Arkansas, is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Sen. Tom Cotton in 2026. The Associated Press reported her entry into the race this summer; her campaign site frames her as a farmer focused on kitchen‑table economics. (apnews.com)
While completing a Master of Public Service at the University of Arkansas’s Clinton School, Shoffner worked in Lima, Peru, with PROMSEX (the Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights). Clinton School records say her international project in Lima involved developing a fundraising strategy and donor database for PROMSEX. PROMSEX was founded in 2005 and advocates for sexual and reproductive rights. (clintonschool.uasys.edu)
According to the Daily Wire’s review of an archived version of Shoffner’s personal blog, she wrote in July 2010 that she marched “in the FRONT” of Lima’s ninth annual Pride parade and that her organization funded the event, with staff carrying the opening banner. The Daily Wire also reported the blog was taken offline sometime between November 2023 and August 2025, before Shoffner announced her Senate bid. These details have not been independently verified by this outlet. (dailywire.com)
Separate local reporting and archives indicate Lima’s ninth Pride march took place on Saturday, July 10, 2010, drawing thousands of participants and dozens of organizations. (blogdelimagay.blogspot.com)
Shoffner’s current campaign biography does not mention her PROMSEX work; instead, it highlights her farming background and economic platform. As of November 20, 2025, her campaign site states, “The only thing Hallie ever wanted to do was farm. But if she can’t farm, she’s going to fight.” (hallieshoffner.com)
The episode lands amid Arkansas’s conservative policy climate on transgender issues. In 2021, Arkansas became the first U.S. state to enact a ban on gender‑affirming medical care for minors, covering puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries. A federal judge struck the law down in 2023; in August 2025, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the state’s law, following related Supreme Court guidance. Separately, in 2023 Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a measure extending the period for malpractice suits over gender‑affirming care. Sanders won the 2022 governor’s race by roughly 27.8 percentage points. (en.wikipedia.org)
Republican officials have criticized Shoffner over the Peru episode. “Hallie Shoffner’s organization funded a trans‑pride parade in Peru, she led the parade, and then she tried to hide it from Arkansans — what else is Hallie Shoffner hiding?” Arkansas Senate President pro tempore Bart Hester said in a statement to the Daily Wire. Hester also praised state laws that allow minors who underwent such procedures to seek legal recourse. These remarks were made to the Daily Wire. (dailywire.com)
At the federal level, Cotton introduced the Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act in 2023 to allow those who underwent gender‑transition procedures as minors to sue providers. “Gender‑transition procedures aren’t safe or appropriate for children,” Cotton said then, arguing the bill would let people who later regret procedures seek damages. (cotton.senate.gov)
Shoffner did not respond to the Daily Wire’s request for comment, the outlet said. PROMSEX, meanwhile, has in recent years run “NosoTrans Salud,” a project focused on improving access to respectful health services for trans women in Lima Sur, according to an academic case study. (dailywire.com)
