LITTLE ROCK — A flurry of activity characterized the final hours of the filing period as a number of candidates for the U.S. House and Senate entered the races.
The week-long filing period, during which more than 300 candidates filed for 180 open state, district, and nonpartisan judicial offices in the May 18 primary, officially ended at noon.
Among those registering in the final hours at the state Capitol were Republicans Gilbert Baker, Randy Alexander, Jim Holt and Conrad Reynolds, who are all vying for the party nomination for U.S. Senate.
For the U.S. House, Democratic state Senator Steve Bryles filed in the 1st District, Republican businessman Scott Wallace filed in the 2nd District and Republican Doug Matayo, a former state legislator, filed in the 3rd District.
Donnie Copeland, meanwhile, is running for lieutenant governor. The Republican said he had been considering running for Governor before Jim Keet became a candidate in that race last week.
Baker called the federal deficit the country's "number one challenge." He carried a blue camping tarp with him to the Capitol and contrasted it with the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which is known as TARP for short.
"At $4.88 at Wal-Mart, this tarp is valuable," Baker told supporters shortly after he filed. "The $700 billion TARP bailout is not valuable. The federal government should not be picking winners and losers in the private sector."
Bryles said he has been contemplating running for about a month after Democratic Congressman Marion Berry chose not to run for reelection.
He said his legislative experience, particularly in bringing jobs to the 15th district and Mississippi County, makes him a strong candidate in a field that includes five other Democrats.
"We certainly have lots of work left to do," Bryles said. "And I'd like to continue that work at the next level in Congress and take it to D.C."
Copeland, who is running against Mark Darr for the Republican nomination, also listed job creation as a factor in his run.
"It's because I believe we need innovation to create jobs," he said, explaining his late entry into the race. "... We've got to have different people and we've got to have different ideas. That's what I'm going to bring."
