Arkansas’ 2026 election cycle will feature several rematches, returning candidates

Hallie Shoffner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, stands in the Arkansas Capitol rotunda with her 7-year-old son, Max Sullivan (bottom left), and her husband, Michael Sullivan, on Nov. 3, 2025. Shoffner seeks to challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton in 2026. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)

Two special elections will see contested primaries; special election dates still tied up in court

By Tess Vrbin, Arkansas Advocate

More than 400 Arkansans entered the 2026 election cycle by Wednesday’s filing deadline, several of them returning candidates and some setting up rematches from the 2024 elections.

In addition to the regularly scheduled November 2026 elections, in which Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton will each seek another term, some Central Arkansas and River Valley voters will head to the polls for a special election earlier in the year.

For now, the House District 70 and Senate District 26 special elections are scheduled for June 9, 2026. Voters in both districts are suing to move the elections forward in hopes of having representation during the April 2026 legislative fiscal session, where funding for a proposed state prison will be up for debate.

Both seats became vacant in September after Republican Sen. Gary Stubblefield of Branch died and Republican Rep. Carlton Wing of North Little Rock resigned.

Five Republicans are vying for their party’s nomination to succeed Stubblefield: former Rep. Mark Berry of Ozark, Wade Dunn and Stacie Smith of Greenwood, and Brad Simon and Ted Tritt of Paris.

Stubblefield’s family has endorsed Dunn, who told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette he will “tirelessly” continue Stubblefield’s opposition to Sanders’ plan to build a 3,000-bed prison in Franklin County. Smith, Tritt, and Simon have also said they oppose the prison plan.

Adam Watson of Branch, one of the prison’s most vocal opponents, also filed to run for the Senate seat. As an independent, he will forgo the primary and automatically advance to the general election.

District 26 includes parts of Franklin, Johnson, Logan, and Sebastian counties.

In Pulaski County’s House District 70, Wing’s 2024 Democratic opponent has filed to run for the seat again. Alex Holladay of North Little Rock will face Cordelia Smith-Johnson of Sherwood in the primary. Bo Renshaw of North Little Rock is the only Republican running for the seat.

Last week, the Democratic Party of Arkansas and four District 70 voters asked a judge to hold Sanders and Secretary of State Cole Jester in contempt of court for failing to comply with a court order to set the district’s special election for March 3.

In October, another judge ordered the state to hold the Senate District 26 election “as soon as practicable.” The state has appealed the order.

For the regularly scheduled elections, the primary election for partisan races and the general election for nonpartisan judicial races will be March 3, 2026.

The general election for partisan races is Nov. 3. Runoff contests for the general election, if necessary, will be Dec. 1. Judicial runoffs will be on Nov. 3 if necessary.

Rematches
The Democratic Party of Arkansas is fielding 75 candidates across legislative, executive and congressional races in 2026. Fewer contested races were on the ballot in 2024, when the party fielded 72 candidates.

Several Democrats running for Republican-held legislative seats have run before.

Democrat Dexter Miller of Helena-West Helena has challenged incumbent Rep. Mark McElroy, R-Tillar, in the Delta’s House District 62 twice. McElroy defeated Miller by 197 votes in 2022 and by 663 votes in 2024.

Miller filed on Monday to run for the seat for a third time. Unlike the previous two elections, he won’t face a primary opponent. McElroy filed last week to run for a sixth term.

Additionally, Democrat Rey Hernandez of Rogers filed Wednesday to run for a third time against Rep. Rebecca Burkes, R-Lowell. Hernandez said last year that he hadn’t initially planned to challenge Burkes in 2024 but changed his mind when no other Democrat had entered the race.

Four other House Republicans will face rematches with their 2024 Democratic opponents in the general election:

• Rep. Mary Bentley of Perryville will face Doug Corbitt of Conway
• Rep. Matt Brown will face Cynthia Nations, both of Conway
• Rep. Karilyn Brown of Sherwood will face Andrew Cade Eberly of Jacksonville
• Rep. Cindy Crawford will face Jane-Ellen Udouj-Kutchka, both of Fort Smith

Alexander City Councilwoman Gina Thomas-Littlejohn will again face Rep. RJ Hawk, R-Bryant, in the House District 81 general election if she defeats Elijah Zane Thompson of Bryant in the Democratic primary.

Contested primaries
Other returning candidates from both parties will not be facing their previous opponents.

Democrat Ryan Intchauspe of Rudy will run again for House District 24. He lost to Rep. Brad Hall, R-Rudy, last year in their effort to succeed Van Buren Republican Rep. Charlene Fite, who did not run for reelection.

Hall filed Nov. 4 to defend his seat but notified state officials Tuesday that he withdrew from the race, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. His decision came after the Democrat-Gazette reported that his wife accused him of abusive behavior in their ongoing divorce proceedings.

Fite filed to run for her former seat Nov. 5. She will face Melissa Koller of Alma in the Republican primary.

Democrat Cassandra Mayes (formerly Green) unsuccessfully sought Republican Rep. Brandon Achor’s seat in Maumelle’s House District 71 last year. Next year she will face Republican Stephen Bright, who represented Maumelle in the House from 2003 to 2011.

Achor is running for the Senate District 13 seat and will face former Department of Human Services administrator Mischa Martin of Sherwood in the GOP primary.

Allison Grigsby Sweatman, a North Little Rock social worker and former Young Democrats of Arkansas president, is again running for Senate District 13. She lost to incumbent Sen. Jane English, R-North Little Rock, in 2022.
English is ineligible to run again due to term limits. Sweatman will face Jason Williams of Sherwood in the Democratic primary to succeed her.

Meanwhile in the Delta, Robert Thorne Jr. of Marion is the sole Republican candidate for House District 35. He lost the 2024 election by 120 votes to Rep. Jessie McGruder, D-Marion, who is now running for an open Senate seat.

Five people filed to run in the House District 35 Democratic primary, including Sherry Holliman of Marion and Demetris Johnson of Earle. Both lost the 2024 Democratic primary to McGruder. They will face Joyce Ann Gray, Willie Williams and Audrey Willis in next year’s primary.

Another crowded primary race will be in the River Valley’s House District 46, where Rep. Jon Eubanks, R-Paris, has reached his term limit. Paris City Councilwoman Tonya Fletcher, Brian Cooper of Booneville, Curtis Varnell of Subiaco and Ronni Tate Young of Charleston are all running in the Republican primary.

Tritt and Simon, the Senate District 26 candidates, originally planned to run for House District 46 before the death of Stubblefield, who won reelection to a four-year term last year.

Two North Arkansas House districts will also see contested Republican primaries in light of their incumbent lawmakers not running for reelection.

Mike Bishop, Jon Burnside, Truman Copeland, Jeff Pratt and Boone County Justice of the Peace Kyle Evatt, all of Harrison, will seek the GOP nomination to succeed outgoing Rep. Ron McNair, R-Alpena, of House District 5.

In neighboring House District 6, Republicans Steven Baird, Cody Rogers and Carroll County Justice of the Peace Hunter Rivett are running to succeed outgoing Rep. Harlan Breaux, R-Holiday Island.

Four Republicans are vying for the House District 52 Republican nomination: Mike Jones, Dardanell City Councilwoman Crystal Malloy, Kristain Thompson and Yell County Justice of the Peace Brent Montgomery. Rep. Marcus Richmond, R-Harvey, is not running for reelection.

Former Republican Rep. Dawn Creekmore of East End, will face two primary opponents, Casey Reed and Eric Shepherd of Sheridan, in a bid to succeed outgoing Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, in House District 92.

In House District 88, Rep. Dolly Henley of Washington faces a Republican primary challenge from Lonny Mack Goodwin of Saratoga. Goodwin unsuccessfully ran as a Libertarian for a Senate seat in 2024. His wife, Tammy Goodwin, was Henley’s 2024 general election opponent, also as a Libertarian.

Coty Powers of Walnut Ridge is again running for House District 30, in which he lost the 2024 GOP primary to incumbent Rep. Frances Cavenaugh, also of Walnut Ridge. Cavenaugh is not running for another term and has endorsed Powers’ 2026 primary opponent, Josh Longmire, a Craighead County justice of the peace from Jonesboro.

No Democrats filed to run in House Districts 5, 6, 30, 46, 52, 88 or 92.

Also in Northeast Arkansas, Erika Askeland filed Wednesday to run as a Democrat for House District 32, held by Jonesboro Republican Rep. Jack Ladyman, who is running for a sixth term. Askeland unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, in 2024. She will face Josh Alfano in the 2026 Democratic primary.

Gubernatorial and congressional contests
Sanders will not face a primary opponent on her path to a second and final term as governor. Two Democrats seek to challenge Sanders: State Sen. Fred Love of Mabelvale and Supha Xayprasith-Mays of Bentonville.

Sen. Tom Cotton is seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate. He will face Micah Ashby of Bradford and Jeb Little of Harrison in the GOP primary.

Hallie Shoffner, a farmer from Newport who lives in Little Rock, and Lewisville Mayor Ethan Dunbar will compete for the Democratic nomination to run for Cotton’s seat.

All four Republicans who represent Arkansas in the U.S. House are running for reelection, and all four will face Democratic opponents:

• Terri Yarbrough Green is challenging eight-term U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford in the 1st District, which covers North Arkansas, Northeast Arkansas and the Delta
• Zack Huffman and former gubernatorial candidate Chris Jones will run in the Democratic primary for the 2nd District in Central Arkansas, seeking to challenge five-term U.S. Rep. French Hill
• Robb Ryerse seeks to challenge eight-term U.S. Rep. Steve Womack in the 3rd District
• Steven O’Donnell and James Russell III will run in the Democratic primary to challenge five-term U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman in the 4th District

Russell announced in August that he would run in the U.S. Senate primary but said in October that he would run for the 4th District instead.

Hill will be the only sitting Congressman with a primary opponent, Chase McDowell.

All Arkansas voters will see two nonpartisan state Supreme Court races on the 2026 ballot. Associate Justices Cody Hiland and Nicholas Bronni will run for each other’s positions since their appointments by Sanders make them ineligible to defend their own seats.

Hiland is running unopposed, and Bronni will face Little Rock attorney John Adams, who represented 18 plaintiffs challenging a 2023 state law that would have criminalized the availability of “obscene” library content and did not provide a clear definition of the term. A federal judge blocked the challenged sections of the law, and the state has appealed the ruling.

The Arkansas Advocate is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to tough, fair daily reporting and investigative journalism that holds public officials accountable and focuses on the relationship between the lives of Arkansans and public policy.