Republicans increased their majority in the 100-member Arkansas House of Representatives from 62 to at least 71 in Tuesday's election, said Doyle Webb, chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party.
"It looks great for us," Webb said at 10:45 p.m. "At this point, it looks like we're at 71, and we may pick up more than that. We're waiting on some results at this point. I believe it will be greater than that when all the votes are tallied."
Webb said the Republican tide was "very good news for Arkansas."
"No incumbent Republican was a defeated by a Democrat," he said. "We feel good about it. We feel like we have elected some very good, talented individuals."
Republicans will take three seats that were vacated by departing Democrats and win at least another two seats against incumbent Democrats, Webb said.
Webb said Republican Steve Hollowell ousted Democratic Rep. Marshall Wright in District 49 and Republican Danny Watson beat incumbent Democrat Brent Talley in District 3. That's based on unofficial results.
Republicans went into the election holding 62 of the House's 100 seats. Democrats held 34 House seats and an independent had one. Three seats were vacant before the election.
Forty-six Republican House candidates and 21 Democratic House candidates were unopposed in Tuesday's election.
In three of those races, seats were being vacated by departing Democrats: state Reps. John Vines of Hot Springs, Mary Broadaway of Paragould and John Baine of El Dorado.
Another seat was being vacated by Nate Bell, who left the Republican Party to be an independent and didn't seek re-election.
At 11:35 p.m., with all 17 precincts reporting, the unofficial results for Vines' seat in District 25 were:
Les Warren 5,963
Jerry Rephan 4,203
Both Warren, a Republican, and Rephan, a Democrat, are from Hot Springs.
Warren has been president of Hot Springs Title Co. for the past 16 years. He has also spent 10 years on the school board, 15 years on the Chamber of Commerce board and for 11 years he chaired the Greater Hot Springs Education Council.
Warren said he will be 58 years old in December. "I didn't want to coast to retiring," he said. "I want to put my experience to work."
With all 15 precincts reporting, the unofficial results in the race for Broadaway's seat in District 57 were:
Jimmy Gazaway 6,479
Frankie Gilliam 3,339
Both Gazaway, a Republican, and Gilliam, a Democrat, are from Paragould.
"I'm very excited, very happy," Gazaway said. "I look forward to serving the people of District 57."
With all 28 precincts reporting, the unofficial results for Baine's seat in District 7 were:
Sonia Barker 5,508
Floyd Thomas 3,724
Glenn Glover 782
Barker, a Republican, is from Smackover. Thomas, a Democrat, and Glover, and independent, are from El Dorado.
"I'm relieved, I'm excited, I'm exhausted -- all of those things," Barker said.
She said it was a clean, civil respectable campaign on all sides. Barker teaches oral communication at Smackover High School and coaches the tennis team.
"I have never run for office before," she said. "The most important thing was to see how many people got behind us in our Christian conservative Republican race, how widespread and encouraging the support was from all walks of life.
"It was humbling, It was overwhelming. It was encouraging," she said.
By 10:30 p.m., Republican John Maddox of Mena had already been declared the winner over Independent Henry T. Nielson of Hatfield in the race for Bell's seat.
At 11:55 p.m., with 29 of 34 precincts reporting, the unofficial results were:
Maddox 8,571
Nielson 1,606
Metro on 11/09/2016