LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Rep. John Boozman won the eight-candidate Republican primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, and no runoff will be necessary. He gave credit to his staff and volunteers.
“We’ve worked so hard, especially the last three orfour days, but this team has brought us this far, and we are very, very appreciative,’ he said. “We are really very, very excited.”
With 2,388 of 2,516 precincts reporting, the unofficial count was:
Boozman ...................... 72,094
Jim Holt .........................23,599
Gilbert Baker .................15,710
Conrad Reynolds ..........6,940
Curtis Coleman ............. 6,792
Kim Hendren .................5,247
Randy Alexander ...........4,130
Fred Ramey .................... 1,837
Holt, a former state senator, said things seemed to be going like he thought they would with early returns showing Boozman at around 40 percent and Holt at around20 percent.
“But now there are more votes than people in counties,” Holt said. “Something weird is going on.”
Holt said he “really likes John.” But, he said, he was confident that if he could get into a runoff, he would win by pointing out his own re-cord in the state Legislature and Boozman’s record in Congress.
Boozman said he expects the other seven candidates to come together behind him in November against the Democratic nominee. U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln is facing a runoff against Lt. Gov. Bill Halter.
The chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, John Cornyn, said after Boozman’s victory that “I am confident that Arkansas is one of our party’s strongest pick-up opportunities this November.”
“We’ll work really hard to defeat either Sen. Lincoln or Lt. Gov. Halter,” Boozman said.
He called Holt a “good friend” and looks forward to his support.
Holt lost the 2004 general election to Lincoln.
Boozman, who once played football for the Arkansas Razorbacks, watched election returns at Juanita’s restaurant in Little Rock; Baker watched at the Victory Building in Little Rock. Holt stayed at his home base in Northwest Arkansas, waiting at Fast Lanes Entertainment bowling alley in Lowell.
Some saw the race as an early gauge of the mood toward incumbents nationally. Republicans have targeted Lincoln since early 2009, accusing her of being part of a liberal Democratic establishment in Washington.
Republican candidates for the most part agreed with one another on policy with a few exceptions. Baker and Holt criticized Boozman for voting for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.
Boozman and Holt criticized Baker for his vote in the Legislature to raise taxes by $400 million a year for public schools.
Boozman has touted his experience, but Baker and Holt have said a candidate who hasn’t served in Washington is needed.
Boozman, 59, of Rogers, a former optometrist, was elected to Congress in a special election in 2001, beating state Sen. Gunner DeLay of Fort Smith in a Republican runoff and Democratic state Rep. Mike Hathorn of Huntsville in the general election. The special election was held to fill the seat left open when Asa Hutchinson took a job in the Bush administration.
Baker, 53, of Conway, a retired University of Central Arkansas music instructor, was elected to the state Senate in 2000 and survived a tough re-election race in 2008, beating Joe White of Conway. Baker is co-chairman of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee.
Holt, 45, of Springdale, an arborist and former National Security Administration analyst, was elected to the state House in 2000 and to the Senate in 2002 and served thereuntil 2006.
Baker raised $1 million, Boozman $830,000, and Holt $114,000.
Candidates have complained that it’s been hard to raise money because there are so many candidates. Some Republican donors didn’t want to commit to a candidate until the primary is over.
A few details about the other candidates: Hendren of Gravette is a state senator, car dealer and owner of numerous other businesses; Ramey of Searcy is a driver for Federal Express; Reynolds of Conway is a retired U.S. Army colonel; Alexander of Springdale is a housing administrator at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville; and Coleman of Little Rock is a former executive at Safe Foods Inc. in North Little Rock.
Arkansas has had only one popularly elected Republican U.S. senator, Tim Hutchinson, who won the position in 1996 and lost it in 2002 to Mark Pryor, a Democrat who won a second term in 2008.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 05/19/2010