A fictional video-game-playing Medicaid recipient named “Brad” has become a controversial figure in Arkansas’ latest political fight.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders recently released the campaign ad featuring a young white man as an example of an able-bodied adult who chooses not to work. The imagery drew criticism from conservative commentators who questioned why the fictional recipient was white rather than Black. The backlash has also reopened a decades-old debate about the stereotype historically associated with Black women and welfare.
The ad promotes a new statewide mandate requiring adults between 19 and 64 years old to complete 80 hours per month of work, education, job training, or community service to maintain coverage in
forwp-incontent-ad1">“Republicans don’t have the balls to do this ad with ‘Shaniqua’ as the villain,” posted Matt Walsh, a conservative writer, according to The Associated Press. “Even though that would actually be an accurate portrayal of the problem at hand.”
Likewise, Sean Davis, the co-founder of the Federalist website, argued that “our government has systematically discriminated against white men for decades now, and yet now has the audacity to dishonestly mock young white men as welfare queens.”
Huckabee Sanders, who is up for reelection, “stands by the ad,” Jordan Powell, her campaign manager, said. “We should never confiscate money from hard-working Arkansans to give it away to those who simply choose not to work at all.”
Ange-Marie Hancock, the author of The Politics of Disgust: The Public Identity of the “Welfare Queen,” told the AP that the trope remains “chronically accessible” in the minds of some voters. “The longer race and gendered history really points to ideas that African Americans are lazy; they don’t do the right thing,” she said.
Robert Coon, a managing partner at Arkansas political consulting firm Impact Management Group, called suggestions that the ad should feature a Black recipient “overtly racist” and “inaccurate.”
KFF data shows that in 2024, about 38% of Medicaid beneficiaries ages 0 to 64 nationally were white and nearly 19% were Black. In Arkansas, the shares were about 57% white and 20% Black. The AP reported that about 60% of ARHOME recipients are white and roughly 18% are Black, based on recent Arkansas Department of Human Services data.
Barry Jefferson, president of the NAACP Arkansas State Conference, argued that poverty is more complicated than the stereotypes often attached to public assistance.
“We shouldn’t betray anyone because they are asking for help and they don’t meet your standards,” Jefferson said.
Meanwhile, Arkansas Democratic congressional candidate Chris Jones, who grew up in a family that relied on food stamps, told the AP that a welfare recipient is not “looking for a way out of work,” but “for a way forward.”
RELATED CONTENT: Amazon Workers Depend On Food Stamps As Labor’s Share Of The Economy Hits A Record Low