Hester Wins Senate District 1 Seat

Tim Summers, candidate for Arkansas Senate District 1 talks Tuesday with Jeretta Hardwick during a primary election watch party at Fred’s Hickory Inn in Bentonville.
Tim Summers, candidate for Arkansas Senate District 1 talks Tuesday with Jeretta Hardwick during a primary election watch party at Fred’s Hickory Inn in Bentonville.

— Voters in Benton and Washington counties elected Bart Hester, a Cave Springs contractor and real estate agent, to the Arkansas Senate in District 1.

With all precincts reporting in Tuesday’s Republican primary, Hester had 4,329 votes (53 percent) to Tim Summers’ 3,766 (47 percent) in unofficial results.

Bart Hester
Bart Hester

Hester doesn’t face a Democratic challenger in the Nov. 6 general election.

Hester, 33, credited his campaign’s boots-on-the-ground approach for his success Tuesday.

“Hard work pays off, and that’s what we did,” he said by phone from his Cave Springs home, where he waited for election results to come in. “Just as I worked to win this seat, I’m going to work just as hard for Northwest Arkansas in Little Rock.”

He called Summers a “good leader for us and a servant of this community.”

“He’ll continue to be a good servant in Northwest Arkansas,” Hester said.

Hester, who had described himself as an anti-abortion Christian conservative, is deacon at First Baptist Church of Bentonville and a member of the National Rifle Association.

The political newcomer has pledged not to raise taxes if elected and has advocated for fewer regulations on businesses in the state.

The newly designed Senate District 1 covers Centerton, most of Bentonville, a portion of central Benton County west of Interstate 540 and parts of northern Washington County. The district includes some of Lowell and Elm Springs.

Summers, who has represented Arkansas House District 99 in the state Legislature since 2009, said late Tuesday he would support Hester when he begins work in Little Rock next year.

“Mr. Hester is the senator-select, and we need to support him,” he said.

Summers, director of community development for Decision Point, a drug and alcohol abuse recovery program with facilities in Bentonville and Springdale, also served six years on the Bentonville City Council and 13 years on the Benton County Quorum Court.

He has advocated for controlling costs in Arkansas' public pension funds and protecting agricultural interests across the state.

Hester used a slight fundraising edge to challenge the political veteran leading up to Tuesday’s primary.

As of May 15, Hester had received $106,800 in campaign contributions to Summers’ $105,046.

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