A North Little Rock auctioneer filed Thursday as the Republican candidate for House District 66, filling a vacancy left when the previous nominee withdrew from the race.
Wayne Ball, the 73-year-old owner of Wayne Ball Auction and Realty, will challenge Democratic state Rep. Mark Perry, 63, of Jacksonville in the general election.
Ball said members of the Republican party asked him about his interest in becoming the nominee after Nick Priest of Jacksonville announced his withdrawal from the race March 8, citing health issues.
House District 66 includes portions of North Little Rock, Jacksonville and Scott.
Perry, the incumbent, has served in the House of Representatives since 2019 and served there previously from 2009 until 2015. He is the owner of P&P Benefits Group.
Attempts to reach Perry on Friday were unsuccessful.
Ball said he mulled the decision to run for several days before agreeing to do so.
"I thought about it and thought about it and thought, 'Man, I'll do y'all a favor. I'll put my name in there,'" he said. "But I told them, 'Don't expect a lot out of me because I've got a business to run.'"
A graduate of Jacksonville High School, Ball said former President Bill Clinton appointed him to be the first chair of the Arkansas Auctioneers Licensing Board in 1989.
Ball successfully ran for constable in the early 1990s as a Democrat. He switched parties in 1998 and ran again for constable but was defeated. He ran unsuccessfully for the position again in 2022, although he said he didn't campaign during that election.
"Basically I ran on name recognition," he said.
Borrowing a phrase from the Gettysburg Address, Ball said while governments are supposed to be "of, for and by the people," he believed the government in recent years has become one that operates "of, for and by the few" who are elected to office.
Ball said he would listen to what the people of his district want, though he added, "I've got my personal feelings also that I'm going to have to go by."
He described himself as "MAGA," which is short for former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."
"I hire here, and I work here," he said.
Ball said people who know him would say he "treats everybody the same" and he believes "no one is better than anyone else is."
When asked about his personal values, Ball said those found in the Bible are important to him, "Genesis through Revelation." He didn't specify further, however, saying "one value is not more important than the other ones."
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a proclamation April 5 calling for a convention to fill the vacancy left by Priest's withdrawal. Republican Party of Arkansas Executive Director Seth Mays said last week that the Pulaski County Republican Committee held a convention March 16 and selected Ball to be the nominee.
Asked why he thought he might emerge victorious in the general election against Perry, Ball said "I really don't know" and that running for House District 66 "is a whole new experience for me."
Despite the newness of campaigning for a seat in the state House of Representatives, Ball said he decided to give running for office "one more lick."
"This is going to be my last hurrah," he said. "I'm getting too old for all this mess."