Arkansas Republicans appeared to be building on their advantage in the state Senate on Tuesday night with incomplete and unofficial returns showing two Democratic incumbents trailing their GOP challengers.
Republican Trent Garner of El Dorado held the lead in his bid to unseat Democratic state Sen. Bobby Pierce, a Sheridan utility contractor and hardware store owner, in District 27. The district encompasses Calhoun and Union counties and parts of Cleveland, Grant, Jefferson and Ouachita counties in south Arkansas.
Republican state Rep. David Wallace of Leachville was ahead in his challenge for the District 22 seat held by Democrat David Burnett of Osceola. The district includes Mississippi and Poinsett counties and part of Craighead County in northeast Arkansas.
Although neither Garner nor Wallace was prepared to declare victory late Tuesday, both challengers said their bids for office likely were helped by an apparent national GOP wave that saw the party hold onto the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
"That national Democratic Party drove down local candidates," Garner said, calling Pierce an otherwise nice guy. "People in south Arkansas were ready for a change.
"I think I probably got a bump from" what was going on nationally, Wallace said.
Meanwhile, early returns showed state Sen. Jane English, R-North Little Rock, holding off Democratic challenger Joe Woodson Jr., also of North Little Rock, for the District 34 seat. It covers an area that includes North Little Rock, Sherwood, eastern Maumelle and the Jacksonville area, north of Interstate 40 and west of U.S. 67/167.
Democrats appeared to be easily on their way to holding on to two seats in which they faced Libertarian candidates. Incumbent Sen. Eddie Cheatham, a Democrat from Crossett, was besting challenger Elvis Presley in District 26 while Will Bond was ahead of Jacob Mosier for the District 32 seat.
All are vying for a senator's job that pays $39,400 annually, plus per diem and mileage for attending legislative meetings. The term is four years.
The state Senate now has 24 Republicans and 11 Democrats. Thirteen Republican senators and five Democratic senators weren't up for election this year. Ten Republican candidates and two Democratic Senate candidates were unopposed.
Garner, 32, is a field representative for U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. He also served two tours in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army Special Forces.
Pierce, 65, has been in the Senate since 2013 after serving in the state House of Representatives from 2007-2013. He served on the Sheridan School Board for 26 years.
In 2012, the year Republicans in Arkansas gained control of the Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction, Pierce defeated El Dorado Republican Henry Frisby to win the seat.
Wallace, 67, has been in the state House of Representatives since 2015. He served on the Leachville City Council from 1992-1994 and from 2010-2014. He is a retired Army lieutenant colonel who flew helicopter gunships in Vietnam and owns about 40 rental properties.
Burnett, 75, has been in the Senate since 2011. He was a prosecutor for eight years beginning in 1975 and a circuit judge for 26 years starting in 1983. He is an attorney.
English, 75, has served in the Senate since 2013. She is chairman of the Senate Education Committee. She was in the state House of Representatives from 2009-2013.
In addition, she was a senior project manager for the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission from 1984-1999 and director of the state Workforce Development Board from 2001-2004.
Metro on 11/09/2016