Shift of primaries changes file times

Moved-up dates give some pause

Arkansas' shift of its party primary elections from May 24 to March 1 means that potential candidates for state and federal offices have less time now to decide whether to run.

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There's disagreement about whether the switch will lead to fewer candidates filing for office in 2016.

Republican leaders say they're finding plenty of people who want to seek office.

Democratic leaders said they are seeing some reluctance among potential candidates because of the state's political climate, but they hope to overcome that.

The parties' filing period for state and federal offices stretches from noon Nov. 2 until noon Nov. 9 at the state Capitol. Before the change, the filing period was to start Feb. 23.

In June, the Republican-dominated Arkansas Legislature and GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson enacted legislation to move up the party primaries and thus increase the likelihood that Arkansans can vote in the presidential races before the nominees are effectively decided. Arkansas is one of several Southern states holding presidential primaries on March 1.

Republican former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Democratic former Arkansas first lady and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton are each seeking their respective parties' presidential nominations next year. They lost in their presidential bids in 2008.

Critics of the state's election switch argue that it amounts to an "Incumbent Protection Act," as state Rep. Nate Bell, an independent and former Republican from Mena, called it on Twitter a few months ago.

Senate Democratic leader Keith Ingram of West Memphis, who voted against moving the primary election, said he has talked to some potential candidates, who initially told him that they'd hold off on making a decision until after the holidays.

"Sometimes, we get locked into a vacuum around that Capitol thinking everybody knows filing dates when they are moved, and a lot of people are unaware of that," said Ingram, who has been in the Senate since 2013 and was in the House of Representatives from 2009-13.

He said it wouldn't surprise him if moving up the filing deadline and primary elections results in fewer candidates.

But state Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb of Benton said word is spreading in Republican circles "because we have been out recruiting and working."

"I think people are very aware that the primary is going be March 1. They may not be as clear [about] the exact dates of the filing period, but they know it is coming up this year," he said.

Webb said he doesn't believe the change will affect the number of candidates.

"I think that those people that want to contest a race will be contesting it whether the filing period was next year or this fall," Webb said.

The Arkansas House of Representatives now consists of 64 Republicans, 35 Democrats and an independent. All 100 are up for election in 2016.

The Arkansas Senate consists of 24 Republicans and 11 Democrats. Eleven Republican seats and six Democratic seats are up for election next year.

Bell said several supporters of the legislation to change the primary election date told him that "it was certainly the intent to protect incumbents." He declined to disclose who they were.

He said he expects fewer contested races in the November 2016 general election but not necessarily fewer contested primary elections.

State Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, who sponsored the legislation to change the primary election date, said his goal in supporting it was to attract more presidential candidates to Arkansas, not to discourage people from running for office.

Bell "is on a tirade against the Republican Party," said Stubblefield.

Brenda Vassaur-Taylor of Fayetteville, a co-founder of the Conduit for Action group that opposes the state's use of federal Medicaid dollars to buy private health insurance for low-income Arkansans, said the earlier-than-usual filing period is "an advantage for incumbents, obviously.

"For the people that we have spoken to, I don't see it as a determining factor. Usually, they are people who are committed to issues and interested in making government function more true to its original purpose," said Vassaur-Taylor, who is backing the Republican candidates challenging Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, and Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot.

The state's private option of Medicaid expansion has deeply divided Republicans since the Legislature authorized it in 2013. The private option is allowed under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed by President Barack Obama in 2010. Hutchinson has asked the Legislature to overhaul the program.

House Democratic leader Eddie Armstrong of North Little Rock said he's finding potential Democratic candidates more apprehensive about the political climate than about the timing of the filing deadline and primary election.

He said many wonder if they should run while Obama is still in office.

In the past three elections, Arkansas Republicans saw historic gains in state and federal offices after linking Democratic candidates to Obama.

In addition to prevailing in the state Legislature, Republicans now hold all seven statewide constitutional offices, all four U.S. House seats and both U.S. Senate seats.

Armstrong said he's been working feverishly since the end of this year's regular legislative session to keep the 35 state House Democrats in those seats and to hopefully pick up a few seats for the party in the 2016 elections.

"We are trying to make sure we have viable candidates to sustain what we have in place," said Armstrong.

House Republican leader Ken Bragg of Sheridan said the Democratic Party's opposition to Hutchinson's termination of the state's Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood has helped Republicans.

He cited Rep. Mike Holcomb of Pine Bluff, who recently switched from the Democratic Party to Republican Party.

Asked how many seats Republicans hope to gain in the House in 2016, Bragg said, "We really don't have a goal."

State Democratic Party Chairman Vince Insalaco of North Little Rock said some potential Democratic candidates have doubts about running because they remember the drubbing the party took last November, but he believes the party can win back some of the seats that the Democrats narrowly lost.

If Clinton becomes the Democratic presidential nominee, that "could potentially help," he said. "I think we could be in an entirely different climate by the general election."

But, state Rep. Mary Broadaway, D-Paragould, has decided not to run for re-election. And Paragould Democrat Jeremy Biggs said he considered entering the race for that seat, but after a month of weighing the options, he has decided not to run.

"It's just a tough climate for Democrats. It will be for the next two to four years," said Biggs, the 35-year-old son of former Democratic state Rep. Gary Biggs of Paragould.

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