LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Voters can begin casting early ballots Monday in Arkansas' midterm election and while the top-of-the-ticket U.S. Senate and governor's races have dominated the airwaves, a handful of legislative races could determine whether more than 200,000 people keep their health insurance under the state's Medicaid expansion.
Republicans have already secured control of the Senate for 2015, but Democrats still have the chance to reclaim the House. One of the first tasks for the newly elected Legislature will be to decide whether to reauthorize the "private option" program, which uses Medicaid money to buy private health insurance for low-income residents.
It takes a three-quarters majority to approve the funding for the program. This year, the plan passed with one vote to spare in the House and with no votes to spare in the Senate.
Only four Senate seats are contested on the general election ballot, while 38 of the 100 House seats are up for grabs. Republicans would need to win 16 of those seats to keep their majority in the House, while Democrats need 24 to take control.
Here's a look at some of the races to watch heading into the election:
HEIGHTS HOUSE SEAT
City director Stacy Hurst is trying to win over a legislative district that includes the traditionally liberal area Heights neighborhood in Little Rock, while attorney Clarke Tucker aims to keep the seat in Democratic control. Both are vying for the state representative seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. John Edwards, who is term-limited.
This contest isn't likely to decide the fate of the private option, with both candidates saying they support the program. But the race is one of the costliest in the Legislature, with each candidate reporting campaign coffers exceeding six figures.
NORTH ARKANSAS RIVALS
The private option is a sticking point in the contest between Democrat James McLean and Republican Linda Collins-Smith for a Senate seat representing northern Arkansas. Both have served in the state House and want to win the seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. David Wyatt, who opted not to run for re-election.
Collins-Smith, a hotel owner from Pocahontas, opposes the Medicaid expansion program while McLean, a funeral home owner in Batesville, backs the program and has said he'll vote to reauthorize it if elected.
CONWAY CHALLENGER
In Faulkner County, Democrat Tyler Pearson is working to oust Republican Sen. Jason Rapert, who's among the most socially conservative members of the chamber. Rapert is an architect of the strict abortion regulations enacted by the Legislature last year — one of which is on hold after a federal judge found it unconstitutional.
But Pearson, who works for the Little Rock-based nonprofit Heifer International, is campaigning on protecting the private option program and expanding access to pre-kindergarten, as well as creating jobs.
Rapert, a financial adviser, has voted previously in support of the private option but hasn't said how he'd vote on the program if re-elected.
REMATCH
If the state Senate contest for the seat representing extreme northeast Arkansas looks familiar, that's because it is. Sen. Robert Thompson, a Democrat, is facing the same Republican challenger he defeated two years ago.
In 2012, Thompson beat Republican Blake Johnson by 447 votes — or with 50.83 percent of the vote to Johnson's 49.17 percent. Thompson, an attorney from Paragould, has served in the Senate since 2007 while Johnson is a former member of Corning City Council.