The Democratic runoff for the 2nd Congressional District matches two experienced legislators in a race that took an acrimonious turn after House Speaker Robbie Wills mailed a flyer last weekend attacking state Sen. Joyce Elliott’s record.
Elliott, 59, said Tuesday that the flyer misrepresented her views but Wills said he is judging Elliott by her votes in the Legislature.
Wills, 42, said the purpose of the June 8 runoff is for Democrats to choose the candidate most likely to beat Republican Tim Griffin in the November general election. The seat is being vacated by Rep. Vic Snyder, a Democrat.
“She (Elliott) is unelectable in November if she is that extremist on so many issues,” Wills said, adding that the election will be about Elliott’s voting record instead of the economy and other issues.
But Elliott said her voting record is a strong one and that she’s a hard-working campaigner, which may propel her to victory if she is the Democratic nominee.
“My opponent is acting as though he’s entitled to this position,” Elliott said. “I don’t assume who is electable.”
Elliott carried Pulaski County in the May 13 primary, while Wills carried the other seven counties in the district. He said a candidate can’t win in the general election without carrying Faulkner and Saline counties, which he did in the primary.
But Elliott far outdistanced Wills in overall votes, capturing 40 percent to Wills’ 28 percent.
Elliott said the most important thing right now is for her supporters to vote, either on June 8 or in early balloting.
“We’re not doing anything differently,” she said. “We’re running like we’re behind.”
Among Wills’ accusations was that Elliott voted against measures that would ban late-term abortions and require underage girls to have parental consent before having an abortion.
Wills said the parental consent bill included a waiver for juveniles to have an abortion if doing so was “in her best interests.”
“That puts (Elliott’s) vote on the extreme of extreme,” Wills said.
Elliott said she was offended by the attack.
“So many people are totally taken aback. It’s not what we expect from Democrats,” Elliott said Tuesday after casting her ballot in downtown Little Rock on the first day of early voting. “It’s not the kind of campaign Mr. Wills said he’d run.”
Wills said that Elliott had herself said that holding up an opponent’s record for review is proper. But Elliott said Wills is accusing her of having views she does not hold.
“I am not for minors having abortions without consent of their parents,” she said. The parental consent measure included a provision that would allow the procedure without consent if the girl signed an affidavit that she was the victim of incest.
The late-term abortion bill went too far in dictating to doctors what procedures they can perform.
“I’m not pro-abortion and I’m not pro-late-term abortion,” said Elliott, who said she had spent years “trying to find a way forward on this.”
Wills also cited poor ratings assigned to Elliott by the National Rifle Association in gun-related votes.
“I am on the record in so many places as supporting our Second Amendment rights,” Elliott said. She said she backed a bill that would guarantee Arkansans the right to hunt and fish and went on record with the Arkansas Family Council saying she supports gun rights.
Elliott, of Little Rock, is a former high school teacher who was elected as a state representative in 2000. She was elected to the state Senate in 2008 and is majority leader in the upper chamber. Elliott also worked for the College Board as its director of government relations for the southwest region.
Wills has served in the state House since 2005, and was elected House speaker in 2007. He is a former chairman of the House Transportation Committee, and led the negotiations on legislation setting up the state’s lottery commission. He is an attorney and businessman from Conway, and is a former Faulkner county justice of the peace.