LITTLE ROCK — No Democratic candidate in the congressional primaries for the 1st and 4th districts got enough votes to secure the nomination, but the top four vote getters said they plan to keep on doing what they did until the June 12 runoff.
Separately, Gov. Mike Beebe, the titular head of the state Democratic Party with over two decades of Arkansas political experience, observed that a runoff is a whole different ballgame.
“The voter turnout that selects the nominee based on a runoff is so small that all the traditional thinking on what has gone on before can be virtually thrown out the window and [one can] really start from scratch,” he said. “People forget to go vote in a runoff. People aren’t as interested. ... There are only one or two offices, so they don’t get as engaged [as] in a regular primary or in the general, so the key for any of those candidates is getting the vote out. If you don’t have a very motivated grass-roots organization, then you suffer the consequences.”
According to results compiled by The Associated Press, there will be Democratic runoffs in four state House races and one state Senate race.
In the 1st District congressional race, Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington of Jonesboro and state Rep. Clark Hall of Marvell will face each other for the Democratic nomination. State Sen. Gene Jeffress of Louann and Hot Springs lawyer Q. Byrum Hurst will compete for the party’s support in the 4th District.
Hall began campaigning months before Ellington, raised the most money and was the only one of three Democrats in that race to have a television commercial during the primary.
Complete but unofficial results from The Associated Press show Hall with 22,049 of the 56,854 votes (38.78 percent). The district runs the length of the eastern edge of the state and extends into north-central Arkansas.
“When we get our message out there about balancing budgets and economic opportunities and cutting taxes as Clark has in the state Legislature, we look forward to being the next congressman,” said Forest Boles, Hall’s campaign manager.
Hall won 10 counties in the Delta and the center of the district including Phillips County, where he lives. Hall also won in the parts of Searcy and Jefferson counties that are within the district.
Ellington, who is the prosecuting attorney for the 2nd Judicial District and lives in Jonesboro, won 18 counties in the northern half of the district, including all six of the counties in his judicial district. The unofficial results show him with 28,151 (49.51 percent).
“Given the short time span we’ve had, it is surprising,” said Mariah Hatta of the Ellington campaign. “But personally, having worked with Scott Ellington, I’m not surprised that he has touched so many people that can believe in him,” she said.
Gary Latanich, an economics professor at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro received 6,654 votes (11.7 percent).
Either Ellington or Hall will face U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, a Jonesboro Republican, in the Nov. 6 general election. Libertarian Party candidate Jessica Paxton of the Libertarian Party and Green Party candidate Jacob Holloway will also be on the ballot.
Hatta said Ellington’s campaign will focus on making sure voters turn out in areas where they supported Ellington on Tuesday.
She said that through his work as a prosecutor, Ellington has proved himself as a consensus-builder and will bring a new approach.
“We have a person who is proven in his public service; a person who will take on difficult situations and find ways to reach consensus,” she said.
Boles said he did not want to speak about Hall’s campaign strategy but he’s confident Hall will be the Democratic nominee after the runoff.
“Clark is proven to be a very responsible, Mike Beebe, Arkansas Democrat,” Boles said. “He knows that people of this state expect him to balance budgets and be a good steward of tax dollars.”
Though Ellington had a stronger showing in more counties than Hall, 12 of the 18 counties he won are areas where Crawford beat Democratic candidate Chad Causey in the 2010 general election.
Hall won in 10 full counties Tuesday night. In 2010, a Democrat — Causey or U.S. Rep. Mike Ross— won in seven of them.
In the 4th District race, Jeffress said he is going to continue pushing his personal connection with voters. Jeffress had no website or television ads.
“You can be on TV or be in the newspapers quite a bit, but to see you and shake your hand means quite a bit” to 4th District voters, he said. Jeffress said his campaign strategy is “basically just shoring up what we’ve already done.”
Jeffress has spent about 12 years in the state Legislature along with his brother, state Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, D-Crossett. He ran a largely self-funded, grass-roots primary campaign.
The 4th District ranges from Ashley County across to the western border and reaches up to Madison County. He won all six of the counties in either his or his brother’s Senate districts that are located within the congressional district. He also carried Madison, Little River and Sevier counties and much of Pine Bluff. Unofficial results show him with 23,779 votes (43.11 percent).
Hurst said that running ads on television and online was the best way to introduce himself to people in the 33-county district.
“I think you have an obligation to try to get your message out there as much as you can so the voters are well-informed,” he said. He said he will spend the next few weeks trying to show voters that his experience as an attorney makes him a good advocate for the district.
“I wanted to offer my experience, my talent, my education ... and see if the people in District 4 wanted that,” he said. “We’re just going to march forward.”
Hurst won 16 counties in the western and northwestern parts of the district. Unofficial results show him with 19,672 votes (35.67 percent).
D.C. Morrison of Little Rock won Cleveland and Grant counties. He received 11,702 votes ( 21.22 percent.)
He endorsed Jeffress on Wednesday.
Hurst said that because Morrison endorsed Republican Beth Anne Rankin in the 2010 congressional race, he wasn’t sure what Morrison would do this time.
“I don’t think his endorsement is going to have a major impact on the voters and swaying them to go vote for Mr. Jeffress,” Hurst said.
Either Jeffress or Hurst will face Dardanelle Republican Tom Cotton in the general election. Cotton won the GOP primary with 57.3 percent of the vote, besting Rankin of Magnolia and John Cowart of Texarkana.
The Democratic Party took a swipe at Cotton on Wednesday, saying the source of much of his campaign funding makes him “already too beholden to Washington and special interests.”
Cotton, a former Army captain, received several hundred thousand dollars in contributions through the pro-business political action committee Club For Growth.
“Tom won convincingly because Arkansans — including many Democrats — voted in record numbers for a proven conservative leader to stand up to the Obama agenda,” his campaign manager, Doug Coutts, said.
Green Party candidate Joshua Drake of Hot Springs and Libertarian candidate Robert “Bobby” Tullis of Mineral Springs will also be on the Nov. 6 ballot in that race.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 05/24/2012