Tracy Steele

Party

Democrat

Past Service

House 1999, 2001, 2011; State Senate 2003, 2007; Assistant Senate Pro Tempore 2009; Majority Leader Senate 2007 - 2011

Seniority

88

Religion

Baptist

Occupation

Consultant, Trainer

About Rep. Steele

In 2025, Steele was re-elected to the House of Representatives, making him the first person to be re-elected to the House in three different decades. He represents District 72, which includes portions of North Little Rock and Pulaski County.

Rep. Steele of North Little Rock has spent his life in public service. As a senator, he was responsible for several key pieces of legislation that are now law. He was lead sponsor of Act 393 of 2009, which created a statewide emergency trauma system to efficiently deliver the highest quality care to citizens with life-threatening injuries. He also sponsored the Antony Hobbs III Act to provide school-based automated external defibrillators & cardiopulmonary resuscitation programs throughout the state. Other prominent legislation sponsored by then Sen. Steele, provided unemployed workers quicker access to unemployment benefits, banned the sale of toy guns that are replicas of real guns & provided more than $200,000 in scholarship support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

A longtime public health advocate, Rep. Steele sponsored other important legislation from previous sessions, including the Arkansas Clean Indoor Air Act to protect citizens from secondhand smoke in the workplace & public places. One of his proudest legislative achievements is the funding and completion of the State Capitol monument Testament, which is dedicated to the Little Rock Nine & the civil rights movement. During his tenure in the Arkansas Senate, Steele was elected Senate Majority Leader of the 86th General Assembly, the first African-American to be elected to the position. He previously served as Senate Majority Whip of the 85th General Assembly.

Senator Steele has held other key leadership positions regionally and nationally. Steele was elected to the Arkansas State House of Representatives & served two terms. As a Representative, he served as chairman of the House Public Health, Labor and Welfare Committee & President of the Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus. Among his legislative achievements in the House, he championed after-school enrichment programs, assisted-living programs & parity for children's mental health. He established an official state holiday in honor of Daisy Gatson Bates, mandated all public education institutions include physical education as a part of the curriculum & established the Kids for Health Program through the Arkansas Department of Health.

Steele began his government career as Special Assistant for Economic and Community Development in the Arkansas Governor's Office for then-Governor Bill Clinton and served on the Hispanic Task Force. In 2006, Steele founded two private ventures, including STAND! News, a publication focused on issues affecting the black community, and The STAND Foundation, Incorporated, a nonprofit organization dedicated to leadership development for young adults. He is the former executive director of the Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission.

Most noted for his work with youth, he is the past chairman of the Youth Enterprise in Agriculture and the Ambassadors of Life, an organization that serves disadvantaged youth. Senator Steele founded the Midnight Basketball program, the Single Parent Scholarship Fund and was inducted into the North Little Rock Boys & Girls Club Hall of Fame. He serves on the North Little Rock School Board (Past President), the Board of Trustees at Baptist Health and is a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated.

Steele currently serves as Director of the Arkansas Health Services Permit Agency. Senator Tracy Steele holds a degree in political science from Rice University in Houston, Texas, and completed Governor's School at Duke University. He and his wife, Cassandra, have one daughter, Sumone, and one son, Tracy. They are members of New Hope Baptist Church in North Little Rock.