Jimmie Lou Fisher

American politician (1941–2022)

Jimmie Lou Fisher (December 31, 1941 – July 11, 2022) was an American politician who was the longest serving Arkansas State Treasurer in Arkansas history.

Fisher was born in Delight, Arkansas on December 31, 1941, the eldest of the five children of Joyce Nutt Cooper and Tollie H. Cooper.

In 2002 the Arkansas Democratic Party asked Fisher to be its candidate against Mike Huckabee, because they felt that she was the strongest candidate possible. They did not want to allow the highly popular Huckabee to blow past the opposition to another term as he had done in 1998, when he easily defeated the Democratic candidate in what was an embarrassingly large defeat for the Democratic Party. Determined not to let that happen again, the Democratic Party came to Fisher. Fisher was not able to run for another term for state treasurer because of the 1994 term limits law that voters had passed. Because of this, Fisher reluctantly agreed to take on Huckabee. Despite her reluctance to enter the race originally, Fisher ran an incredibly strong and active campaign. She raised over $1 million, and campaigned hard across the state. She hit Huckabee hard on Education with her REACH proposal. This came at a time where Huckabee was very vulnerable on that issue due to public frustration about poor education funding for rural schools. Other highlights of her campaign included: ethics accountability, prescription drug relief for seniors, Economic Growth and raising the minimum wage, crime, (during a time when Huckabee was being slammed due to questionable pardons, including one that left two women dead in Missouri), and fiscal responsibility. Polling showed the race slowly narrowing, but Fisher was unable to cut into Huckabee's lead enough to win. Huckabee was also helped by the positive political wave for Republicans that swept through nation that year, though it did little to save incumbent U. S. Senator Tim Hutchinson, from his loss, by a 54 percent to 46 percent margin, to then Attorney General Mark Pryor. In the end, Huckabee won 53 percent to 47 percent.

In 2006 Fisher signed on as Campaign Chairwoman for State Representative Dustin McDaniel of Jonesboro, who recently won an incredibly close race against North Little Rock City Attorney Paul Suskie for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General. This was thought by many political experts to be the biggest boost to McDaniel's campaign, even bigger than the endorsements of dozens of former presidents of the Arkansas State Bar Association, signifying Fisher's prominence among Democrats in the state.

Fisher was checked into St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center in Little Rock on the morning of April 12, 2006. She apparently suffered a "mini stroke" similar to one U. S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had a few months before. She first noticed something odd while preparing breakfast that morning. She immediately called her sister, who drove her to a family doctor. He went on to send her straight the emergency room. Later it was determined that it was not progressing, and that she was stable. Those around her have said that she was positive as always, and appeared to be doing just fine. Doctors kept her in the hospital for almost a month and a half to keep her under observation, and perform tests. She was later released after she cleared all the tests, and they noted no further symptoms or complications.

Fisher died at a hospital in Paragould, Arkansas on July 11, 2022, at the age of 80.