The Republican Party of Arkansas State Committee on Saturday elected former U.S. Attorney Cody Hiland of Little Rock as its new chairman, succeeding Jonelle Fulmer of Little Rock.
Fulmer has served as the party's chairwoman since December 2020 under Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Two months ago, Governor-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders signaled her support for Hiland to be party's next chairman.
Sanders said Saturday that the Republican Party of Arkansas will have a strong steady leader with a bold vision to recruit and elect conservative candidates up and down the ballot.
"Cody has been a tough on crime successful and respected prosecutor and U.S. Attorney, and he had my full support for Chairman from the beginning," she said in a news release.
Meanwhile, an attempt to bring up proposed party rule changes aimed at only allowing registered Republicans to vote in Republican primaries and only allowing registered Republicans to file for office as Republicans narrowly failed before the committee.
The state GOP Rules Committee recommended against approving the changes at this time, in part because Rules Committee Chairman Steve Lux said more work is needed on the proposals and legislation to enact them, and due to the timing.
Fulmer said a two-thirds vote of the State Committee, or 139 votes, was required to consider the changes. With only 121 members voting in favor, the motion to consider the changes failed.
In July, delegates to the Republican Party of Arkansas state convention voted to declare the state party's support for closed primaries as part of its platform.