‍A Good Campaign, a documentary film about Clarke Tucker’s bid for US Congress in 2018, will premiere in Little Rock at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater on January 6, 2022 at 6:00pm. The film was made and directed by Gerard Matthews and Kathryn Francis Tucker. Tickets are $15. One hundred percent of all ticket proceeds and donations will go to the Arkansas film crew, who donated their time and talent to make the film. Buy tickets here.

The event will feature a question and answer conversation with Clarke Tucker and the directors moderated by Bill Vickery and Skip Rutherford, after the screening. There will be a reception following the screening and Q&A at Cache Restaurant, adjacent to CALS Ron Robinson Theater.

The film follows Tucker, his campaign staff, his family, and friends in the final days of a heated congressional race. Though the odds were stacked against him from the outset, we see the young candidate handle the challenges of the race with heart, determination, and dignity. Tucker was hoping to be part of the blue wave that took back the US House after two years of Trump in 2018, but it proved too much of an ask for the voters in Arkansas’s 2nd Congressional District. 

So what makes this campaign relevant three years later? The filmmakers say the political climate has become so divisive that it’s easy to forget that actual people run these races. They wanted to focus on the human side of politics and create a film that Arkansans from both sides of the aisle could enjoy. A Good Campaign takes a look at a changing district. Once a Democratic stronghold, recent changes to district boundaries will all but guarantee Democrats won’t hold congressional office in Arkansas for the foreseeable future.

“Running for office is hard work,” said Clarke Tucker. “It goes without saying that you can change lives by winning elective office and serving, and that’s obviously the goal, but I’ve come to learn that you can change lives just through the campaign as well. Gerard and my sister did an amazing job of capturing that feeling, in terms of the last few days of the race. It’s emotional for me to watch how many people contributed their hearts and souls to that campaign.”

“We were interested in following an idealistic young candidate on the biggest day of his political life,” Matthews says. “So, we got that and everything you think would come with it, but we also got a portrait of a shifting political landscape. Democrats can't win here anymore, not even Tucker, who has a great record, bipartisan allies in the legislature, and who ran a solid campaign.”

“I was so moved and inspired by the grassroots campaign that Clarke and the staff built from the ground up, and the courage, dignity, and heart that went into it,” said Kathryn Tucker. “As both a filmmaker and the sister of the candidate, I felt I had a unique perspective on the day-to-day of what candidates and their families go through when they run for office. I felt that this was an important story to tell and remember because we so often demonize politicians. Stories like this one remind us that we can’t paint all politicians with the same broad stroke brush - most politicians are just fellow human beings that feel things just like you and I do and purely want to serve their constituents.”

WATCH THE TRAILER NOW