The State government of Arkansas is divided into three branches: executive, legislative and judicial. These consist of the state governor's office, a bicameral state legislature known as the Arkansas General Assembly, and a state court system. The Arkansas Constitution delineates the structure and function of the state government. Since 1963, Arkansas has had four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Like all other states, it has two seats in the U.S. Senate.
The state was historically part of the Solid South, and was a one-party state dominated by Democrats. Arkansas was the only state in the nation not carried by Republicans at least once between 1876 and 1968, although it voted for segregationist George Wallace in 1968. It was the only Deep South state carried by Lyndon Johnson in 1964, just following the passage of the Civil Rights Act, however, Democratic support did weaken after this. The state voted Republican for the first time in 100 years in 1972, and became a swing state, voting for the national winner in every election from 1972 to 2004. In 2008, the state continued in rightward turn in the 21st century, when Democrat Barack Obama became the first Democrat to win the presidency without carrying the state. Democrats lost the state legislature in 2012 and lost control of all statewide and congressional offices by 2014.