Haskell Mayor Jeff Arey beat out Benton Alderman Kerry Murphy in Tuesday's primary election to become the Republican county judge candidate for Saline County.
With all 42 precincts reporting, unofficial results were:
Arey 8,810
Murphy 5,282
Arey, 51, will run against Libertarian candidate Shawn Hipskind, 36, in the November general election. Hipskind said he felt both Republican candidates were less fiscally conservative than he is, which is why he decided to run for the seat.
"I was afraid that they would not have a problem passing a county tax," he said. "I would like to stop that if at all possible."
The winner of the general election will take the seat of current County Judge Lanny Fite, who will leave his position after 16 years in office. Fite, a Republican, is unopposed for the 23rd District seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives.
Arey has been the mayor of Haskell since 1999. He also serves as chairman of the Saline County Regional Solid Waste District board and president of Metroplan, an organization that provides planning assistance to central Arkansas cities.
Arey said that if elected as county judge, he would focus on sustaining the county's population growth and improving roads and transportation.
"I think that Saline County has been moving in the right direction over the past 15 years," he said. "We've had a lot of growth. I want to continue to see Saline County head in that direction."
Arey said that during his time as mayor he has handled many of the same problems that face the county judge.
"I know how to manage population growth and I know how to manage the challenges of budgeting during that population growth," he said.
Murphy, 46, has served as an alderman on the Benton City Council for four years. He owns a gun-show company, Kerry Murphy Promotions.
Though he lost the race for county judge, Murphy said he's committed to helping improve the community.
"I'm not going to stop and slow down," he said. "I'm going to keep trying to make things better for Saline County."
Metro on 05/21/2014