Arkansas State Senate elections, 2018
- General election: Nov. 6
- Voter registration deadline: Oct. 9
- Early voting: Oct. 22 - Nov. 5
- Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 5
- Online registration: No
- Same-day registration: No
- Voter ID: Photo ID required (preliminary injunction issued on April 26, 2018)
- Poll times: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
| 2018 Arkansas Senate elections | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Allgemein | November 6, 2018 |
| Primäre | May 22, 2018 |
| Primary Runoff | June 19, 2018 |
| Past election results |
| 2016・2014・2012・2010・2008 2006・2004・2002・2000 |
| 2018 elections | |
|---|---|
| Choose a chamber below: | |
Republicans expanded their majority in the 2018 elections for the Arkansas State Senate, as, after the election, they controlled 26 seats to Democrats' nine. Eighteen out of 35 Senate seats were up for election. At the time of the election, Republicans held 25 seats to Democrats' nine, with one vacancy.
The Republican Party maintained its trifecta in Arkansas in 2018 by holding its majorities in the state Senate and state House and by retaining the governorship.
Because state senators in Arkansas serve 2-4-4 terms, some winning candidates in this election served through 2022 and played a role in Arkansas' redistricting process. Congressional district boundaries are drawn by the state legislature. Read more below.
The Arkansas State Senate was one of 87 state legislative chambers holding elections in 2018. There are 99 chambers throughout the country.
Arkansas state senators serve 2-4-4 terms, where senators serve one two-year term and two four-year terms each decade.
For more information about the Democratic primary, click here.
For more information about the Republican primary, click here.
Post-election analysis
- See also: State legislative elections, 2018
The Republican Party maintained supermajority status in both chambers of the Arkansas General Assembly in the 2018 election. In the state Senate, 18 out of 25 seats were up for election. Republicans increased their supermajority in the Arkansas State Senate from 25-9 to 26-9 by filling a vacant seat. Two Republican incumbents were defeated in the primary and no incumbents were defeated in the general election.
The Arkansas House of Representatives held elections for all 100 seats. Republicans increased their supermajority in the House of Representatives from 75-24 to 76-24 by filling a vacant seat. Five incumbents were defeated in the general election; two Democrats, two Republicans, and one independent.
National background
On November 6, 2018, 87 of the nation's 99 state legislative chambers held regularly scheduled elections for 6,073 of 7,383 total seats, meaning that nearly 82 percent of all state legislative seats were up for election.
- Entering the 2018 election, Democrats held 42.6 percent, Republicans held 56.8 percent, and independents and other parties held 0.6 percent of the seats up for regular election.
- Following the 2018 election, Democrats held 47.3 percent, Republicans held 52.3 percent, and independents and other parties held 0.4 percent of the seats up for regular election.
- A total of 469 incumbents were defeated over the course of the election cycle, with roughly one-third of them defeated in the primary.
Want more information?
- Incumbents defeated in 2018's state legislative elections
- 2018 election analysis: Partisan balance of state legislative chambers
- 2018 election analysis: Number of state legislators by party
- 2018 election analysis: State legislative supermajorities
Candidates
General election
Arkansas State Senate elections, 2018 |
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| Office | Democratic |
Republican |
Other |
| District 3 |
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| District 4 |
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| District 5 |
Lee Evans (Libertarian Party) |
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| District 6 |
The general election was canceled and this candidate was elected:  Gary Stubblefield (i) |
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| District 8 |
William Whitfield Hyman (Libertarian Party) |
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| District 9 |
The general election was canceled and this candidate was elected: Terry Rice (i) |
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| District 10 |
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Bobbi Hicks (Libertarian Party) |
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| District 14 |
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| District 15 |
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| District 17 |
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Kevin Vornheder (Libertarian Party) |
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| District 18 |
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| District 19 |
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| District 20 |
The general election was canceled and this candidate was elected: Blake Johnson (i) |
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| District 24 |
The general election was canceled and this candidate was elected: Keith Ingram (i) |
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| District 30 |
The general election was canceled and this candidate was elected: Linda Pondexter Chesterfield (i) |
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| District 31 |
The general election was canceled and this candidate was elected: Joyce Elliott (i) |
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| District 33 |
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| District 35 |
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= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection
Primary runoff election
Arkansas State Senate Primary Runoff elections, 2018 |
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| Office | Democratic |
Republican |
Other |
| District 8 |
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| District 16 |
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Primary election
| 2018 Arkansas State Senate primary candidates | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| District |
Democrat |
Republican |
Other |
| 3 | Jon Comstock  |
Cecile Bledsoe (I) |
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| 4 | Greg Leding |
Dawn Clemence |
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| 5 | Jim Wallace |
Bryan King: 3,871 (I) Bob Ballinger: 4,245 |
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| 6 | No candidate | Gary Stubblefield (I) |
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| 8 | No candidate | Denny Altes: 2,693 Frank Glidewell: 4,193  Mathew Pitsch: 3,641 |
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| 9 | No candidate | Terry Rice (I) |
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| 10 | Larry Teague (I) |
No candidate | |
| 14 | Michael Colgrove |
Bill Sample (I) |
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| 15 | No candidate | Dean Elliott: 2,000 Mark Johnson: 4,350 |
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| 17 | No candidate | Scott Flippo (I) |
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| 18 | No candidate | Missy Irvin (I) |
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| 19 | Susi Epperson |
Linda Collins-Smith: 4,735 (I) James Sturch: 5,309 |
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| 20 | No candidate | Blake Johnson (I) |
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| 24 | Keith Ingram: 5,006 (I) Dorothy Cooper: 1,683 |
No candidate | |
| 30 | Linda Chesterfield: 3,679 (I) James Pendleton: 1,736 |
No candidate | |
| 31 | Joyce Elliott (I) |
No candidate | |
| 33 | Melissa Fults |
Kim Hammer |
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| 35 | Maureen Skinner |
Jason Rapert (I) |
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| Notes | • An (I) denotes an incumbent. | ||
| • Candidate lists can change frequently throughout an election season. Ballotpedia staff update this list monthly. To suggest changes, click here to email our Elections Project. | |||
Margins of victory
A margin of victory (MOV) analysis for the 2018 Arkansas State Senate races is presented in this section. MOV represents the percentage of total votes that separated the winner and the second-place finisher. For example, if the winner of a race received 47 percent of the vote and the second-place finisher received 45 percent of the vote, the MOV is 2 percent.
The table below presents the following figures for each party:
- Elections won
- Elections won by less than 10 percentage points
- Elections won without opposition
- Average margin of victory[1]
| Arkansas State Senate: 2018 Margin of Victory Analysis | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Elections won | Elections won by less than 10% | Unopposed elections | Average margin of victory[1] |
| Democratic |
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| Republican |
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 Other |
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| Total | ||||
The margin of victory in each race is presented below. The list is sorted from the closest MOV to the largest (including unopposed races).
Incumbents retiring
Four incumbents did not run for re-election in 2018.[2] Those incumbents were:
| Name | Party | Current Office |
|---|---|---|
| Uvalde Lindsey |  Democratic |
Senate District 4 |
| Frank Glidewell |  Republican |
Senate District 8 |
| David J. Sanders | Republican |
Senate District 15 |
| Jeremy Hutchinson | Republican |
Senate District 33 |
Process to become a candidate
See statutes: Title 7 of the Arkansas Code
A candidate in Arkansas may run for office as a candidate of a recognized political party, as an independent, or as a write-in.
Political party candidates
A political party candidate must seek his or her party's nomination through either a primary election or party convention.[3][4][5]
A political party candidate must file an affidavit of eligibility, political practices pledge, and party certificate with the Arkansas Secretary of State by March 1 in the year of the election. If March 1 falls on a holiday or weekend, these forms are due on the following business day. The candidate must pay a filing fee if one has been established by his or her party.[3][4][5]
Independent candidates
An independent candidate must file a political practices pledge, affidavit of eligibility, and notice of candidacy with the Arkansas Secretary of State by March 1 in the year of the election. If March 1 falls on a holiday or weekend, these forms are due on the following business day.[3][4][5]
Independent candidates must also collect petition signatures to gain ballot access. This process may begin 90 days before the petition filing deadline. The signature requirements vary depending on the office being sought. If a candidate is running for state executive office or the United States Senate, 10,000 qualified signatures, or the equivalent of 3 percent of voters in the state, whichever is fewer, are required. If the candidate is running for state legislative office or the United States House of Representatives, signatures equaling 3 percent of voters in the county, township, or district in which the candidate is seeking office are required. If this amount exceeds 2,000, the requirement is capped at 2,000.[3][4][5][6]
Write-in candidates
Write-in candidates are not permitted to participate in presidential, municipal, or primary elections. In order to have his or her votes counted, a write-in candidate must file a political practices pledge, affidavit of eligibility, and a written notice of write-in candidacy with the Arkansas Secretary of State no later than 90 days prior to the general election. The candidate must also file a written notice of write-in candidacy with each county in which he or she seeks election.[3][4][5]
Vacancies
Upon the death, resignation, or removal of a member of the U.S. Senate, the governor must make an appointment to fill the vacancy. If the term of the departing senator would have ended at the next scheduled general election, the gubernatorial appointee will serve out the remainder of the term. No special election will be held. If the term of the departing senator was not set to expire at the next general election (and the vacancy occurred four months or more before the next general election), a special election to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the vacated term will be held concurrently with the next general election. If the vacancy occurred less than four months before the next general election, a special election to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term will be held concurrently with the second general election occurring after the vacancy.[7]
Qualifications
Article 5, Section 4 of the Arkansas Constitution states: No person shall be a Senator or Representative who, at the time of his election, is not a citizen of the United States, nor any one who has not been for two years next preceding his election, a resident of this State, and for one year next preceding his election, a resident of the county or district whence he may be chosen. Senators shall be at least twenty-five years of age, and Representatives at least twenty-one years of age.
Salaries and per diem
- See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries
| State legislative salaries, 2024[8] | |
|---|---|
| Salary | Per diem |
| $44,356/year | For legislators residing within 50 miles of the capitol: $59/day. For legislators residing more than 50 miles from the capitol: $166/day. |
When sworn in
Arkansas legislators assume office on the second Monday of January following their election.[9]
Arkansas political history
Party control
2018
In the 2018 elections, Republicans increased their majority in the Arkansas State Senate from 25-9 to 26-9.
| Arkansas State Senate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 6, 2018 | After November 7, 2018 | |
| Democratic Party | 9 | 9 | |
| Republican Party | 25 | 26 | |
| Vacancy | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 35 | 35 | |
2016
In the 2016 elections, Republicans increased their majority in the Arkansas State Senate from 24-11 to 26-9.
| Arkansas State Senate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 7, 2016 | After November 8, 2016 | |
| Democratic Party | 11 | 9 | |
| Republican Party | 24 | 26 | |
| Total | 35 | 35 | |
Trifectas
A state government trifecta is a term that describes single-party government, when one political party holds the governor's office and has majorities in both chambers of the legislature in a state government. Republicans in Arkansas gained a state government trifecta as a result of the 2014 elections, when they recaptured the governor's office and retained control of the state legislature. Democrats had trifectas in the state from 1992 to 1997 and 2007 to 2013.
Arkansas Party Control: 1992-2024
Eleven years of Democratic trifectas • Ten years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Senate | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
Impact of term limits
The Arkansas State Senate has been a term-limited state Senate since Arkansas voters approved the Arkansas Term Limits Initiative in 1992 as an initiated constitutional amendment. In 2014, voters approved the Arkansas Elected Officials Ethics, Transparency and Financial Reform Amendment which permits legislators to serve a total of 16 years in the House or Senate during his or her lifetime.
A total of 18 out of 35 seats in the Arkansas State Senate were up for election in 2018. In the 2018 elections, no state senators were ineligible to run because of term limits.
Of the 87 state legislative chambers that held elections in 2018, 24 of them—12 senate chambers and 12 house chambers—included incumbents who were unable to run for re-election due to term limits.[10] In the 24 chambers affected by term limits in 2018, 1,463 seats were up for election.[11] The Nevada Senate, Arkansas House, and Arkansas Senate are impacted by term limits, but no incumbents were term-limited in 2018. There are 99 chambers throughout the country.
A total of 271 state legislators—96 state senators and 175 state representatives—were ineligible to run in the 2018 elections because of term limits. This represented 4 percent of the 6,066 total seats up for election in November 2018.[12][13] Republicans had twice as many state legislators term-limited in 2018 than Democrats. A total of 86 Democrats were term-limited, while 177 Republicans were term-limited.
Wave election analysis
- See also: Wave elections (1918-2016)
The term wave election is frequently used to describe an election cycle in which one party makes significant electoral gains. How many seats would Republicans have had to lose for the 2018 midterm election to be considered a wave election?
Ballotpedia examined the results of the 50 election cycles that occurred between 1918 and 2016—spanning from President Woodrow Wilson's (D) second midterm in 1918 to Donald Trump's (R) first presidential election in 2016. We define wave elections as the 20 percent of elections in that period resulting in the greatest seat swings against the president's party.
Applying this definition to state legislative elections, we found that Republicans needed to lose 494 seats for 2018 to qualify as a wave election.
The chart below shows the number of seats the president's party lost in the 10 state legislative waves from 1918 to 2016. Click here to read the full report.
| State legislative wave elections | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | President | Party | Election type | State legislative seats change | Elections analyzed[14] | |
| 1932 | Hoover | R | Presidential | -1,022 | 7,365 | |
| 1922 | Harding | R | First midterm | -907 | 6,907 | |
| 1966 | Johnson | D | First midterm[15] | -782 | 7,561 | |
| 1938 | Roosevelt | D | Second midterm | -769 | 7,179 | |
| 1958 | Eisenhower | R | Second midterm | -702 | 7,627 | |
| 2010 | Obama | D | First midterm | -702 | 7,306 | |
| 1974 | Ford | R | Second midterm[16] | -695 | 7,481 | |
| 1920 | Wilson | D | Presidential | -654 | 6,835 | |
| 1930 | Hoover | R | Presidential | -640 | 7,361 | |
| 1954 | Eisenhower | R | First midterm | -494 | 7,513 | |
Competitiveness
Every year, Ballotpedia uses official candidate lists from each state to examine the competitiveness of every state legislative race in the country. Nationally, there has been a steady decline in electoral competitiveness since 2010. Most notable is that the number of districts with general election competition has dropped by more than 10 percent.
Results from 2016
Below is Ballotpedia's 2016 competitiveness analysis. Click here to read the full study »
Historical context
Uncontested elections: In 2014, 32.8 percent of Americans lived in states with an uncontested state senate election. Similarly, 40.4 percent of Americans lived in states with uncontested house elections. Primary elections were uncontested even more frequently, with 61 percent of people living in states with no contested primaries. Uncontested elections often occur in locations that are so politically one-sided that the result of an election would be a foregone conclusion regardless of whether it was contested or not.
Open seats: In most cases, an incumbent will run for re-election, which decreases the number of open seats available. In 2014, 83 percent of the 6,057 seats up for election saw the incumbent running for re-election. The states that impose term limits on their legislatures typically see a higher percentage of open seats in a given year because a portion of incumbents in each election are forced to leave office. Overall, the number of open seats decreased from 2012 to 2014, dropping from 21.2 percent in 2012 to 17.0 percent in 2014.
Incumbent win rates: Ballotpedia's competitiveness analysis of elections between 1972 and 2014 documented the high propensity for incumbents to win re-election in state legislative elections. In fact, since 1972, the win rate for incumbents had not dropped below 90 percent—with the exception of 1974, when 88 percent of incumbents were re-elected to their seats. Perhaps most importantly, the win rate for incumbents generally increased over time. In 2014, 96.5 percent of incumbents were able to retain their seats. Common convention holds that incumbents are able to leverage their office to maintain their seat. However, the high incumbent win rate may actually be a result of incumbents being more likely to hold seats in districts that are considered safe for their party.
Marginal primaries: Often, competitiveness is measured by examining the rate of elections that have been won by amounts that are considered marginal (5 percent or less). During the 2014 election, 90.1 percent of primary and general election races were won by margins higher than 5 percent. Interestingly, it is usually the case that only one of the two races—primary or general—will be competitive at a time. This means that if a district's general election is competitive, typically one or more of the district's primaries were won by more than 5 percent. The reverse is also true: If a district sees a competitive primary, it is unlikely that the general election for that district will be won by less than 5 percent. Primaries often see very low voter turnout in comparison to general elections. In 2014, there were only 27 million voters for state legislative primaries, but approximately 107 million voters for the state legislative general elections.
Redistricting in Arkansas
- See also: Redistricting in Arkansas
Because state senators in Arkansas serve four-year terms, winning candidates in the 2018 election served through 2022 but had no role in Arkansas' redistricting process—the drawing of boundary lines for congressional and state legislative districts—after the 2020 Census. Arkansas is one of six states that use a politician commission to draw state legislative district lines.
The Arkansas General Assembly is responsible for drawing congressional district lines. Both chambers of the state legislature must approve a single redistricting plan. The governor may veto the lines drawn by the state legislature.[17]
Arkansas' state legislative district lines are drawn by a politician commission, the Arkansas Board of Apportionment. The commission comprises the governor, the secretary of state, and the attorney general.[17]
The Arkansas Constitution requires that Arkansas State Senate district lines be "contiguous, and that they follow county lines except where necessary to comply with other legal requirements." There are no such requirements in place for congressional districts.[17]
Pivot Counties
- See also: Pivot Counties by state
One of 75 Arkansas counties—1.33 percent—is a Pivot County. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.
| Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County | Trump margin of victory in 2016 | Obama margin of victory in 2012 | Obama margin of victory in 2008 | ||||
| Woodruff County, Arkansas | 8.91% | 4.21% | 7.46% | ||||
In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won Arkansas with 60.6 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton (D) received 33.7 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Arkansas voted Democratic 66.67 percent of the time and Republican 30 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, Arkansas voted Republican all five times.
See also
- Arkansas State Senate
- Arkansas State Legislature
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Arkansas state legislative Democratic primaries, 2018
- Arkansas state legislative Republican primaries, 2018
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Excludes unopposed elections
- ↑ Ballotpedia defines an incumbent as retiring if the incumbent did not file for office or filed for office but withdrew, was disqualified, or otherwise left a race in a manner other than losing the primary, primary runoff, or convention. If an incumbent runs as a write-in candidate, Ballotpedia does not consider them to be retiring. If an incumbent runs in the same chamber for a different seat, Ballotpedia does not consider them to be retiring.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners, "Running for Public Office: A 'Plain English' Handbook for Candidates," 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Arkansas Code of 1987, "Title 7, Elections," accessed October 30, 2013
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners, "Running for Public Office: A 'Plain English' Handbook for Candidates," 2016
- ↑ On December 15, 2017, a federal judge ruled that Arkansas' March 1 deadline for independent candidates was unconstitutional.
- ↑ Arkansas Code, "Section 7-8-102," accessed November 30, 2017
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "2024 Legislator Compensation," August 21, 2024
- ↑ Justia, "Arkansas Constitution Article 5 - Legislative Department Section 5 - Time of meeting," accessed October 26, 2021
- ↑ The Nevada Senate, Arkansas House, and Arkansas Senate were up for election in 2018 and have term limits, but no incumbents were term-limited in 2018.
- ↑ The Nevada Senate, Arkansas House, and Arkansas Senate are impacted by term limits, but no incumbents were term-limited in 2018. In the three chambers, a total of 129 seats were up for election in 2018. No legislators were unable to run in 2018 in those three chamber because of term limits.
- ↑ Ballotpedia confirmed through phone calls that at least seven California legislators were term-limited in 2018. The number of California legislators term-limited and the overall number of term-limited state legislators had a chance to change if Ballotpedia could confirm that more members were term-limited in 2018.
- ↑ Some of the 271 term-limited state legislators in 2018 may resign before their term ends. These legislators were still counted in the total number of term-limited legislators in 2018.
- ↑ The number of state legislative seats available for analysis varied, with as many as 7,795 and as few as 6,835.
- ↑ Lyndon Johnson's (D) first term began in November 1963 after the death of President John F. Kennedy (D), who was first elected in 1960. Before Johnson had his first midterm in 1966, he was re-elected president in 1964.
- ↑ Gerald Ford's (R) first term began in August 1974 following the resignation of President Richard Nixon (R), who was first elected in 1968 and was re-elected in 1972. Because Ford only served for two full months before facing the electorate, this election is classified as Nixon's second midterm.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 All About Redistricting, "Arkansas," accessed April 20, 2015
