Carol Dalby (1956–)

Carol Dalby of Texarkana (Miller County) began serving in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2017, representing District 100 (Miller County). Dalby made history in Arkansas by being the first woman to be appointed chair the House Judiciary Committee. The committee during her tenure as chair has taken up many controversial bills that include “stand your ground” legislation, hate crimes legislation, and legislation that impacts content in county libraries.

Carol Cannedy was born on October 2, 1956, in Decatur, Illinois, to George and Jeanice Cannedy. Her father was an engineer, and his company transferred him to Texarkana when she was two years old. A lifelong resident of Texarkana, she graduated from Arkansas High School. She earned a BS in education at Ouachita Baptist University (OBU) in Arkadelphia (Clark County) in 1979. She earned a Master of Science from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M-Texarkana) in 1982 and earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville (Washington County) in 1986. She married John Dalby, and they had two children.

Carol Dalby taught seventh-grade English at North Heights Junior High School in Texarkana and served as the public relations officer and director of personnel for the Texarkana Arkansas School District. After earning her law degree, Dalby practiced law in both Miller County in Arkansas and Bowie County in Texas as an assistant district attorney. Dalby was appointed by Governor Mike Huckabee to serve as a district judge in 2003, and she also served as a special justice to the Arkansas Supreme Court for ten years on the Lake View case, which impacted Arkansas’s public schools. She became a member of the Arkansas Bar Association’s Professional Ethics Committee and the Arkansas Bar Association Board of Trustees.

In 2016, Dalby ran for the open seat for House District 1, which later became District 100. (The outgoing state representative for the district, Prissy Hickerson, was a good friend of Dalby’s.) Dalby won the Republican primary with fifty-nine percent of the vote and was reelected in 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024 without major-party opposition each time.

Dalby has sponsored legislation related to recording deeds, sex offenders, district courts, school safety, law enforcement, aggravated assault upon a law enforcement officer or correctional facility employee, and the Uniform Civil Remedies for Unauthorized Disclosure of Intimate Images Act. Dalby received an Arkansas Chamber of Commerce Leadership Award as well as an Advocate of Justice Award from the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association due to her support of crime victims. Dalby also serves on the Girls State Committee.

Before running for the legislature, Dalby served on numerous nonprofit boards and commissions, among them the Texarkana Resources for the Disabled, the Texarkana Library Commission, the Junior League of Texarkana, the Texarkana Regional Arts Council, the Red Cross, Opportunities Incorporated, and the Texarkana Regional Center on Aging. Dalby served on the Texarkana School Board as president and was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from the district in 2019. Dalby was also a founding member of Arkansas Women for Education.

For additional information:
Carol Dalby. Arkansas House of Representatives. https://www.arkansashouse.org/district/100 (accessed September 5, 2024).

Representative Carol Dalby. Arkansas State Legislature. https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Legislators/Detail?member=Dalby&ddBienniumSession=2021%2F2021R (accessed September 5, 2024).

Smith, Lindsley, and Stephen Smith. Stateswomen: A Centennial History of Arkansas Women Lawmakers 1922–2022. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2022.

Zach Bledsoe
Henderson State University