From the Arkansas Advocate:
A business owner from Paris won the Republican nomination Tuesday for a vacant Arkansas state Senate seat that represents the site of a controversial 3,000-bed prison project.
Brad Simon defeated Wade Dunn in the special GOP primary runoff for state Senate District 26. He’ll face independent candidate Adam Watson in March 3’s special general election in the heavily Republican district that encompasses parts of Franklin, Logan, Johnson and Sebastian counties.
Simon won 65% percent of the vote against Dunn, a retired businessman. The two had advanced to Tuesday’s runoff after none of the five candidates in last month’s primary won the majority needed to claim the nomination outright.
“Tonight we celebrate. Tomorrow we get back to work,” he wrote on a Facebook post Tuesday night.
The two were running for the GOP nomination to replace the late Sen. Gary Stubblefield, who had been a staunch opponent of the proposed 3,000-bed prison that is set to be built in Franklin County. Both Dunn and Simon pledged to continue that opposition if elected.
Dunn conceded the runoff to Simon about two hours after polls closed Tuesday night. In a post to his campaign’s Facebook page, Dunn expressed hope that Simon would be a conservative legislator in the mold of Stubblefield.
“Mr. Simon has big shoes to fill in Senate District 26, and my hope is that he will be a staunch, conservative vote in the same form as Senator Gary Stubblefield,” Dunn wrote.
Watson, the independent candidate, said the winner of the Republican runoff doesn’t change how he is approaching his campaign.
“There is a lot that this district is dealing with that is at a crisis level,” Watson said. “The voters have a choice. They have a choice to stick with the two party system and the super majority that’s brought us to where we are today. Or they can vote for an independent voice that is only really beholden to the voters of this district.”
Simon spent a sizable amount more than Dunn over the course of the primary and runoff, spending $220,940. The vast majority of that money, $200,054, was paid to Capitol Consulting Firm, a political consultant. Simon funded his campaign with $175,000 of his own money, along with $66,700 in donations. Of those donations, $9,500 came from various Capitol Consulting Firm political action committees in the form of monetary and nonmonetary contributions.
Dunn, a retired businessman, spent roughly $85,270. He raised $56,500, while loaning his campaign $52,500.
Dunn had been endorsed by Stubblefield’s daughter and wife, while Simon received endorsements from the late senator’s brother and son. Simon also had the backing of numerous local officials and Republican Rep. Aaron Pilkington of Knoxville. Two of Simon’s previous primary opponents, Stacie Smith and former state Rep. Mark Berry, also endorsed him.
The race centered around the Franklin County prison project early on, with each of the five-person Republican field vowing to oppose it in the Senate if elected. Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has said the facility is needed to address longstanding bed shortages in the state prison system.
Some opponents to the build say the 815-acre plot purchased by the state in 2024 is not suitable for a facility of that size, while others argue that the money spent building another prison would be better spent on addressing other factors that help land people behind bars.
Funding for the prison’s construction could come up again during April’s legislative session after being shot down five times last year. That possibility prompted lawsuits after Stubblefield’s death last year.
A Franklin County voter said the original schedule for an election to replace the late senator would deprive the district’s voters of having a say in whether the project would be funded. A state court order moved the special election to its current dates. Sanders appealed that order to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Justices allowed the order to stand while they heard the appeal.
