Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in October 2023 (Gage Skidmore)
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders — a MAGA Republican who became her state’s first female chief executive after receiving an endorsement from President Donald Trump— was kicked out of a restaurant in her own state on Friday the 13th last week.
Sanders was told to leave a Little Rock restaurant called The Croissanterie after spending more than an hour eating there with her State Police Executive Protection Detail, according to a report by the local news affiliate TVH-11. In a written statement, the restaurant’s owners explained they were "surprised and uncertain how best to respond" when they saw Sanders and her detail had entered their establishment. Because they soon ordered and started eating, they felt compelled to allow them to stay, but soon began to feel uncomfortable.
According to the restaurant, after a little more than an hour they politely asked Sanders and her guests to leave. Sanders and her detail claim they were told her presence was “making employees threatened and uncomfortable because of her political views."
"Arkansans are known for their warm hospitality, and while that restaurant certainly doesn't meet that standard, my administration will continue to focus on lifting Arkansans up, not tearing others down with discrimination and hate,” Sanders explained in a subsequent statement. The restaurant, by contrast, said that while they felt “regret” for needing to “make a difficult decision," they ultimately “stand by our choice to support our employees and guests."
They added that despite not wanting to deny her service because of her different political beliefs, allowing her to stay "risked being perceived as a lack of support for the community that makes up" the restaurant’s staff.
The Croissanterie is a pastry-based restaurant with food produced by two chefs, Wendy Schay and Jill McDonald, who are certified by the American Culinary Federation, America's premiere chef association. The website described the restaurant as “unstoppable with the savory pastry combination” and the chefs as “born and raised in Arkansas” whose menu is “not only built upon the authentic French pastries, but it also has a Southern cuisine comfort that we all crave.”
Sanders has been very controversial since assuming office as Arkansas governor, which she won following a stint as Trump’s press secretary. Her controversies include alienating conservatives in her own party by proposing an $825 million state prison, opposing local Republicans who oppose her policies, urging state high schools and colleges to open Turning Point USA chapters, spending $19,000 on a lectern and trying to circumvent term limits for her judicial picks by encouraging them to run for each other’s seats. That said, it is unclear which specific political issues upset the staff at The Croissanterie.