Gene McVay

Gene McVay is a retired Air National Guard colonel who once contested the Republican primary for governor of Arkansas. He was a candidate for Governor of Arkansas in 1998 as a challenger in the Arkansas Republican primary to Mike Huckabee who had been elevated from Lieutenant Governor upon the resignation of Jim Guy Tucker, and who went on to win the general election. In the 1972 Arkansas General Election, he lost a race for the Arkansas Senate. In 1973, he became Chairman of the Baxter County, Arkansas Republican Party and member of the Election Commission.

He is a former commander of the American Legion Post 31 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He also served as Arkansas department commander for the American Legion.