Searcy is the largest city and county seat of White County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 20,663. It is the principal city of the Searcy, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of White County. Like Searcy County, the city takes its name from Richard Searcy, a judge for the Superior Court of the Arkansas Territory. Mike Beebe, Arkansas' current governor and former state Attorney General (2003-2007), lived and worked in Searcy several years, both in private law practice (1972-1982) and while representing the area in the Arkansas State Senate (1982-2002). His wife, Ginger, is a native of Searcy. The Beebe-Capps Expressway, a notable thoroughfare in Searcy, is named after Mike Beebe and his fellow lawmaker, John Paul Capps, both of whom engineered the funds and political willpower to complete its construction. Searcy is the home of Harding University, a private college affiliated with the Churches of Christ and the state's largest private university. Harding College (its original name) moved to Searcy from Morrilton in 1934, having bought the campus of the defunct Galloway College, a Methodist college for women. Regional ice cream producer and distributor Yarnell Ice Cream Co. has its headquarters in the city's downtown area. Odell Pollard, state chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party from 1966-1970 and an ally of the late Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, practiced law in Searcy from 1950-2005. He was the Republican national committeeman from 1973-1976.