From the Arkansas Advocate:
Arkansas’ statewide and congressional candidates held dueling rallies and met with voters throughout the state Monday, on the eve of a midterm election where Democrats hoped to break Republicans’ lock on the top elected offices.
More than 500,000 Arkansans cast a ballot early in person or absentee by Monday. Secretary of State Cole Jester’s office has predicted that at least 50% of the state’s 1.8 million registered voters will cast a ballot in this year’s midterm election.
Democrats haven’t won statewide or federal office in Arkansas in 16 years, but the party is hopeful that President Donald Trump’s low approval numbers and concerns about affordability could create an opening in the solidly Republican state.
Appearing at a get-out-the-vote rally in Rogers Monday morning, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she wants to continue serving Arkansans, and touted her success reforming the state’s education system and cutting taxes.
“We’re not just winning races, we’re investing in the next generation,” Sanders said. “This isn’t just about the next election, it’s about the future of our state and the future of our country.”
Democratic state Sen. Fred Love and Libertarian Colt Shelby are challenging Sanders, who urged attendees to support other Republican candidates.
Sanders planned to end her election campaigning with a Little Rock rally alongside Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, who is being challenged by Democrat Hallie Shoffner and Libertarian Jeff Wadlin.
Shoffner and Chris Jones, the Democrat hoping to unseat Republican Rep. French Hill in central Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District, planned to hold a separate rally Monday night in Little Rock.
Greeting voters and waving a sign near a polling site in downtown Little Rock Monday morning, Jones said his focus between now and the end of voting Tuesday is to encourage people to go out and vote. After 12 years of being represented by Hill, voters in the district want change, Jones said.
“We are seeing more young people go vote, we’re seeing the … infrequent voters showing up,” Jones said. “People are struggling. They’re hurting. They’re in pain because the gas prices are too high. They’re in pain because groceries are too high.”
Turnout was heavy at the Pulaski County Regional Building’s early voting site, with a line stretched down the block.
Several people turned around in the face of the long line instead of joining it. Others stepped out halfway through, needing to return to work.
Arkansas faces the possibility of a soggy Election Day, with much of the state at risk of severe weather, according to the National Weather Service.
Wendell Griffen, Democratic nominee for Pulaski County judge, arrived around lunchtime and called the long line at the Little Rock site “extraordinary.” He suspected people voted early to avoid bad weather forecast for Tuesday.
Sharrolean Cobbs of Little Rock declined to say who she voted for when departing the downtown Little Rock polling place, but expressed hope that Democrats and Republicans could work together again.
“I hope we can start working toward the same thing, and not have any divisions like we have,” Cobbs said. “Because I believe people are people, and we just need to start working together.”
But in Benton County, Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Womack warned voters that Democrats are going “to pull out all stops” to halt what the president and Republican-led Congress are doing “to right the ship in America.”
“And it’s up to us to make sure that we get our voters to the polls to ensure that this American Dream continues, that’s our job,” he said at the GOP rally with Sanders.
Womack is running for reelection in northwest Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District against Democrat Robb Ryerse and Libertarian Bobby Wilson.
Jill Griess, a Bella Vista resident and rally attendee, said she supports Sanders and values “the beauty of Arkansas.” Outdoor recreation has been a focus for Sanders, as well as legislation prohibiting China from owning agricultural farm land in Arkansas, the latter of which Griess said she supports.
About four miles from the rally, the Benton County Election Commission office was buzzing midmorning as voters cast ballots in the front of the building, officials processed absentee ballots in the back and election equipment was loaded onto trucks outside and delivered to the county’s 34 Election Day voting centers.
Benton County Election Coordinator Kim Dennison said, “the morning was really crazy,” but overall, early voting has gone smoothly with nearly 70,000 residents casting ballots by Saturday.
The county has just over 204,000 registered voters, including Maribel Hurtado, a Rogers mother of four who said she was concerned about the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Prior to voting, Hurtado said she attended a nearby church service where a man said his wife — who was seeking permanent residency — was deported this year during an immigration appointment.
“We pray that everyone opens their hearts and thinks about families staying together,” Hurtado said.
Rogers City Council candidate Mallory Sanders was one of two people holding signs across from the polling center. Northwest Arkansas’ rapid population growth has been a concern for voters, said Sanders, who’s running for the first time to ensure officials are “making positive decisions for the future as our city’s growing.”
“The city has served my family well and I want to make sure it does the same for our kids and then our kids’ kids in the future,” she said.
Sanders, an attorney, faces Chris Collins and Robert Gaffigan in the race for the Ward 1 Position 1 seat.
Dozens of voters lined up outside the Faulkner County Library in Conway during Monday afternoon’s drizzly weather.
In her six decades voting, Mary Kay Sullivan said she’s rarely seen political ads as “vicious” as the ones against Shoffner.
In September, Cotton’s team began running TV ads quoting Shoffner saying in a podcast interview that Arkansas farmers would “trade five Americans for just one” undocumented immigrant worker. Shoffner said she was relaying another farmer’s words rather than speaking for herself.
Sullivan said she was impressed by Shoffner’s composure and preferred her over Cotton, whom she called “a puppet for Trump.”
Christian Orton said he was most excited to vote for Jones and Shoffner. He said Hill and Cotton have “spent their entire careers doing little for everyday Arkansans.”
“They could be replaced with someone who’s a scientist and another person who’s a farmer,” Orton said. “I can’t think of better representatives of this state.”
Jones and Shoffner have pitched themselves as agents of change Arkansas needs, but Dustin Tinkler said he doesn’t believe the state needs a change in representation and he would be fine with reelecting Hill and Cotton.
Tinkler said he is not registered with a political party but typically votes conservative. He also said the issue of lower taxes was more important to him than any candidate in any race.
“I generally vote against all new taxes or raising taxes, regardless of what they would be for,” Tinkler said.
Sullivan and Tinkler both said they didn’t believe Issue 1, also known as “The Citizens Only Voting Amendment,” was necessary. The measure, proposed by the state Legislature in 2025, proposes amending the state’s constitution to prohibit noncitizens from voting in state or local elections held in Arkansas. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
Sullivan said all four ballot measures frustrated her because none of them were straightforward.
“If you voted for them, there were still bad contradictions in it,” she said.
