Seven people are running to represent District 35 in the Arkansas House of Representatives.
Five Democrats and two Republicans are competing in the dense primary. They are running to represent Northeast Arkansas near West Memphis.
Whoever wins will replace Democratic Rep. Milton Nicks who has served in the House for almost a decade. Nicks worked as the Vice Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and served on the Joint Auditing Committee.
In the pool of Democratic candidates is Sherry Holliman, a columnist and former city councilwoman from Marion. Two candidates work in the education field. High school football coach Jessie McGruder says he is against Arkansas LEARNS and supports the Freedom of Information Act. Raymond Whiteside works in the Marion School District and wants to improve education. He says he is especially concerned about “quality of life” issues like improving parks and walking trails.
A fourth candidate, recent college graduate Demetris Johnson Jr., says one of his goals is to cut healthcare costs in Arkansas. He previously lost the race to Nicks in the 2022 election. The vote was 74% to 25%.
The Republican candidates are Robert Thorne Jr. and Gary Tobar. Thorne is running on a traditional conservative platform. He supports gun rights and is pro-life. He also wants to lower taxes. Tobar wants to be a unity candidate and says he is “not party-driven.”
Both the Democratic and Republican winners of each primary contest will face off against each other in November.
