State Rep. Mat Pitsch of Fort Smith narrowly defeated former state Rep. Frank Glidewell of Fort Smith in Tuesday's Republican runoff election for the Senate District 8 seat.
According to the secretary of state's office, unofficial returns in the Senate District 8 runoff were:
Pitsch ....................... 2,069
Glidewell................... 1,985
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Pitsch credited his "amazing" volunteers who knocked on doors of voters and stood on street corners with signs to help his campaign. He also cited an array of endorsements, including from Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and Sebastian County Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck.
"Endorsements were very key to a lot of voters," Pitsch said.
Glidewell said he couldn't overcome what he described as Pitsch's 18 percent advantage among the runoff's early voters.
Pitsch advances to the Nov. 6 general election to take on Libertarian candidate William Hyman of Fort Smith. The winner will serve a four-year term, starting in mid-January 2019.
District 8 covers part of Sebastian County. It includes part of Fort Smith, and Greenwood, Hackett and Bonanza.
In the May 22 primary, Pitsch and Glidewell finished ahead of former Sen. Denny Altes, R-Fort Smith, but neither of them won a majority of votes. Altes threw his support behind Glidewell.
Pitsch, 54, is executive director of the Western Arkansas Intermodal Association. He has served in the House since 2015 and was the House Republican leader during the previous two years.
Glidewell, 73, is a retired electrical contractor who served in the state House of Representatives from 2005-11. He also served as Sebastian County judge from 1997-98 and as a justice of the peace.
Through June 9, Pitsch reported raising $113,725 in contributions and spending $54,491.45. In contrast, Glidewell reported lending his campaign $52,500, raising $17,600 in contributions and spending $51,580.66 through June 9.
The Senate District 8 seat has been vacant since former Sen. Jake Files resigned in February. Files submitted his resignation after pleading guilty in late January to felony charges of wire fraud, money laundering and bank fraud.
In a special primary election held the same day as the regular primary, on May 22, Glidewell defeated Altes to advance to the Aug. 14 special election to face Hyman. The winner of the special election will represent Senate District 8 through mid-January 2019. As a state representative, Pitsch was barred from running in the special election under the Arkansas Constitution.
Metro on 06/21/2018