In the first challenge of an incumbent state senator to emerge so far, Rep. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, said he intends to try to oust Sen. Bruce Holland, R-Greenwood, in the May 20 primary election.
Rice, who has served in the House since 2009 and is barred from seeking re-election under the state’s term limits amendment, declined to elaborate Friday on why he’s decided to take on Holland, who survived a challenge from former Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren, in 2012. Rice would say only that he intends to formally announce his bid for the Senate District 9 seat soon.
He said in an earlier interview that Holland’s vote this year for legislation authorizing the use of federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for poor Arkansans was one of the reasons that he had been weighing a challenge.
Rice voted against the measure to authorize funding for the so-called private option when it cleared the House with 77 votes - two more than the 75 required for approval.
Holland’s was one of 28 votes for authorizing the funding in the Senate - one more than the 27 required for approval. He has served in the Senate since 2011 and heads the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development. He could not be reached for comment Friday about Rice’s primary challenge.
It’s unclear if private-option supporters will continue to have the supermajority needed to approve funding for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
One of the senators who voted to fund the private option resigned from office in August. That’s former Sen. Paul Bookout, D-Jonesboro, whose vacated seat is up for grabs in a Jan. 14 special election between a Democrat who favors the private option and a Republican who opposes it.
Two other Republicans, who oppose the funding, said they are considering challenging two Republican incumbent senators who voted for the legislation authorizing the funding in the 2014 primary election.
Former Rep. Ed Garner, R-Maumelle, said he’ll decide after Jan. 1 whether to take on District 15 Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, who is a key architect of the private option enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature and Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe.
“I want to see the odds of defunding Obamacare,” he said, adding he opposes reauthorizing funding for the private option.
The Legislature will consider reauthorizing the funding in the fiscal session starting Feb. 10. Seventy-five votes are required in the 100-member House and 27 votes are needed in the 35-member Senate for the appropriation.
Sanders, who defeated Garner in 2012, said the Arkansas plan isn’t like the Washington plan. “We do make use of the funding stream” made available under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act through the private option, but “that’s where the similarities [between the health-care act and the private option] end.”
So far, 59,203 Arkansans have completed the enrollment process for health-insurance coverage through the private option, said Amy Webb, a spokesman for the state Department of Human Services. Coverage begins Jan. 1.
Heber Springs Republican Phil Grace, who opposes reauthorizing funding for the private option, said he’s considering a primary challenge to District 18’s Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, who voted to authorize that funding earlier this year. In 2012, Grace lost to Rep. Josh Miller, R-Heber Springs.
The filing period for state and federal offices is Feb. 24-March 3, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Eighteen of the Senate’s 35 seats are up for grabs in the 2014 election. Eleven of the seats are held by Republicans, the other seven by Democrats. The Senate is composed of 21 Republicans and 13 Democrats with one seat vacant.
At this point, only one of the 18 senators whose seats are up for election in 2014 isn’t seeking re-election and that’s David Wyatt, D-Batesville, in District 19.
Rep. James McLean, D-Batesville, said he’s likely to run for the Senate District 19 seat.
Former Rep. Linda Collins, R-Pocahontas, who narrowly lost to Wyatt in 2012, wrote in an email that she “will not be making any announcements before the CHRISTmas celebration is over,” when asked whether she is going to run for the Senate District 19 seat again or the 1st Congressional District seat held by Rick Crawford, R-Ark.
In the Arkansas House of Representatives, some races are starting to emerge in open seats.
It’s not clear yet how many House incumbents will face challenges in the 2014 election, in which control of the chamber is up for grabs.
Valley View School District Superintendent Radius Baker of Jonesboro, who narrowly lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat formerly held by Bookout, said he’s “96 percent sure” that he’s going to run in House District 52.
That seat is held by freshman Rep. John Hutchison, R-Harrisburg, who narrowly defeated Democrat L.J. Bryant in 2012.
The House now has 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and one Green Party representative after Republicans gained control of the chamber in November 2012 for the first time in 138 years. Democrats hope to regain power in the House, while Republicans aim to increase their majority.
Twenty-five House seats are held by representatives who are barred from seeking re-election under the state’s term limits. Republicans hold 15 of those seats, and Democrats occupy the other 10.
At least four other House seats don’t have incumbents seeking re-election because the representatives are going after congressional or statewide offices. Three of the seats are held by Republicans and the other by a Democrat.
Legislative seats in which there are no incumbents are often battlegrounds in elections.
The latest candidates to signal their intentions to run for House seats in the past few months include:
Republicans Waldon Police Chief David Millard and Marcus Richmond of Harvey, president and chief executive officer of America’s Pet Registry Inc., in District 21, a seat held by term-limited Rep. Terry Rice, R-Waldron.
Republican Garland County Quorum Court member Mickey Gates of Hot Springs in District 22, a seat held by House Republican leader Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs. Westerman is running for his party’s nomination in the 4th Congressional District.
Republican Laurie Rushing, a Hot Springs real-estate agent, in District 26, a seat held by freshman Rep. David Kizzia, D-Malvern.
Democrat John Adams of Little Rock, general counsel at First Federal Bank, and former Pulaski County Justice of the Peace Jim Sorvillo of Little Rock, a Republican in District 32. The seat is currently held by term-limited Rep. Allen Kerr, R-Little Rock. In 2010, Adams lost in the race for the Democratic nomination in the 2nd Congressional District. In 2012, Sorvillo lost to Democratic Sen. David Johnson of Little Rock.
Little Rock Republicans Jason Davis and Drew Carpenter already have said they’re seeking their party’s nomination for the seat.
Democrat Danny Knight of Sherwood, a former superintendent of the Watson Chapel School District in Pine Bluff, in District 41, a seat held by term-limited Rep. Jim Nickels, D-Sherwood. Sherwood Republicans Alan Pogue and Karilyn Brown already have said they’re seeking their party’s nomination. Pogue, executive director of the state Board of Examiners in Counseling, lost to Nickels in 2012. Brown is a Pulaski County justice of the peace.
Democrat Michael John Gray of Augusta, a farmer in District 47, a seat held by term-limited Rep. Jody Dickinson, D-Newport.
Democrat Ron Carroll of Jonesboro, the chief certified athletic trainer at Arkansas State University, in District 59, a seat held by term-limited Rep. Butch Wilkins, D-Jonesboro.
Republican Trevor Down of Russellville in District 68, a seat held by term-limited Rep. Robert Dale, R-Dover. In 2010, Down ran as a Libertarian candidate for the U.S. Senate. Republicans Ingram Philips of Fairfield Bay and Zachary Sellers of Russellville, already have said they are seeking the seat.
Republicans Bobby Altes of Fort Smith, who is a son of term-limited Rep. Denny Altes, R-Fort Smith, and the owner of Altes Sanitation Service, and Mat Pitsch of Fort Smith, executive director of the Western Intermodal Transportation Authority, in District 76. In 2012, Pitsch lost a challenge to Denny Altes.
Republican Justin Boyd of Fort Smith, a pharmacist, in District 77, a seat held by term-limited Rep. Stephanie Malone, R-Fort Smith.
Democratic Washington County Quorum Court member Candy Clark of Fayetteville, in District 84, a seat held by Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville. Collins is running for lieutenant governor.
Republican former Sen. Kim Hendren of Gravette in District 92, a seat held by term-limited Mary Lou Slinkard, R-Gravette.
Republican Bentonville City Council member Bill Burckart, owner of a construction development company, who is challenging Rep. Jim Dotson, R-Bentonville, in House District 93.
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 12/15/2013