Bill Gossage

Gossage endorsed former U.S. Representative Asa Hutchinson for governor in the 2014 Republican primary. Hutchinson went on to win his nomination and then to defeat the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Mike Ross. He resigned from the Arkansas House of Representatives on August 30, 2016 to become Governor Hutchinson's deputy chief of staff for external operations.

In 2012, he was unopposed for the Republican nomination in House District 82. The seat opened when Republican Lori Benedict ran for reelection in reconfigured District 61 but was defeated by the Democrat Scott Balz. Gossage himself unseated the previous representative from District 83, the Democrat Leslee Milam Post, 6,804 votes (63.5 percent) to 3,909 (36.5 percent). Gossage served on these House committees: (1) Advanced Communications and Information Technology, (2) Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs, and (3) Revenue and Taxation.

In 2010, Post had been elected by default when the Republican candidate, Thomas Lile "Tom" Fite (born 1944), was disqualified from the ballot by a judge in Pulaski County who declared that Fite's guilty plea in 1984 to Medicaid fraud constituted an "infamous crime." Though Tom Fite's name remained on the ballot, his votes were not counted. In 2012, Fite's wife, Republican Charlene Fite, an educator from Van Buren, won the reconfigured District 80 seat encompassing parts of Crawford and Washington counties.

Gossage graduated in 1979 with dual bachelor's degrees in History and Political Science from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. In 1991, he received a master's degree in Counseling from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Since 2001, he had been an assistant superintendent in the Ozark School District. Previously from 1993 to 2001, he was a high school principal and counselor for the Ozark system. From 1981 to 1992, he was a counselor for the County Line School District, also located in Franklin County.

Gossage is a member of the Assembly of God Church in Paris in Logan County. He is also affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce, Gun Owners of America, the National Rifle Association, the Farm Bureau, and the Cattleman's Association. He and his wife, Latonya D. "Tonya" Gossage (born 1966), have a son, John Jacob Gossage (born 1988). Gossage is known for his signature mustachioed look.

Billy Dale Gossage (born 1957) is an educational administrator from Ozark, Arkansas. He represented District 82, encompassing parts of Franklin, Crawford, and Madison counties, as a Republican in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2013 to 2016.