Democratic delegates from Drew and Ashley counties have selected LeAnne Burch, a lawyer and former Army Reserve brigadier general, to run as the party's nominee in November for the District 9 seat in the state House of Representatives.
Burch, who is from Monticello, defeated Candace Jeffress, a teacher from Crossett, by a 6-5 vote at the local convention Thursday night. After the vote was read, Jeffress' husband, former state Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, moved to nominate Burch by unanimous acclamation.
The vote was taken by secret ballot, said Monticello Mayor Zack Tucker, who was a delegate from Drew County. The split reflected the number of delegates representing each county, with Burch's Drew County having the majority six.
In a speech to the delegates aired on the website Monticello Live, Burch highlighted her leadership training in the military as well her current job working with families as a Department of Human Services lawyer in southeast Arkansas.
In an interview Friday, Burch said she had resigned her position at the Human Services Department on Friday, and expressed excitement at beginning her campaign.
"I'm so excited to be in a position to meet so many more people in the community," Burch said.
Democrats said last week that the nominee selected at the convention would run in the general election as well as a special election for the seat called after the death last month of state Rep. Sheilla Lampkin, D-Monticello. Both elections are Nov. 8.
The winner of the special election will serve for the remainder of Lampkin's term, which ends in January.
The Republican chairmen of Drew and Ashley counties announced this week that the party will not run a candidate in the special election, saying filling the seat for two months when the Legislature is not in session would waste tax dollars.
That announcement drew the ire of Jim Hall, the Republican nominee for the general election, who accused party officials of colluding against him. Hall on Thursday filed his intent to run as a write-in candidate in the special election.
Tucker said the Democrats chose to run their candidate in both elections because the winner of both would start the next legislative session in January with second-term seniority.
"We don't want to go back to the bottom rung of seniority with our representative," Tucker said. Lampkin was in her third term.
Metro on 08/06/2016