State’s U.S. House seats in GOP grasp

3 incumbents, Cotton well out front

Tom Cotton addresses supporters during a watch party in Hot Springs on Tuesday evening after the Republican won Arkansas’ 4th District congressional seat.
Tom Cotton addresses supporters during a watch party in Hot Springs on Tuesday evening after the Republican won Arkansas’ 4th District congressional seat.

— The Republican Party appeared poised to win all four of the state’s congressional seats Tuesday, sweeping the federal seats up for election.

Three of the GOP candidates were incumbents, and all four held large cash advantages over their meagerly funded Democratic opponents. The money was aided by turmoil in the Democratic campaigns. In the 1st Congressional District, three campaign managers circulated through Democrat Scott Ellington’s camp. In the 2nd Congressional District, Democrat Herb Rule’s efforts were hampered by a DWI arrest. The 3rd Congressional District’s Democratic candidate, Ken Aden, dropped out of the race in June after the

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

reported that he had lied about his military record.

In the 4th Congressional District, the state’s largest geographically, covering much of southern and western Arkansas, Republican Tom Cotton, a veteran and management consultant from Dardanelle, looked headed to an easy victory over Democrat Gene Jeffress of Louann, a state senator.

The state’s lone Democratic congressman, Mike Ross of Prescott, announced his retirement last year, creating the only open seat this election cycle.

Green Party candidate Joshua Drake of Hot Springs and Bobby Tullis of Mineral Springs, a Libertarian candidate, were also on the ballot.

In unofficial and incomplete results in 389 of 864 precincts:

Cotton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100,962 Jeffress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62,408 Drake. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,124 Tullis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3,089

Cotton said his conservative message was the key to victory in the district.

“I think voters wanted to send a new generation of conservative leader to Washington to stand up for our God-given rights, to stand up for free enterprise system, and I think the voters of the 4th District will do that tonight,” Cotton said.

Jeffress said he was proud of his campaign.

“We still feel good. We know it’s been an uphill battle. First of all with funds. These elections shouldn’t come from out-of-state funds. It’s not real promising right now,” said Jeffress who estimated he’s put about 110,000 miles on his late-model Toyota Camry campaigning around the 33-county district.

Cotton raised far more money than Jeffress, but Cotton said, “Ultimately it is the ideas that matter.”

In central Arkansas, Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin of Little Rock held a sizable early lead over Rule in the 2nd Congressional District. Rule is a lawyer and former state legislator. Both men are from Little Rock.

Also on the ballot: Libertarian Party candidate Chris Hayes and Barbara Ward of the Green Party. Both live in Little Rock.

“It looks really good, it looks like what happened last time,” said Griffin, who was elected in 2010 after defeating state Sen. Joyce Elliott. “We never — in the last two years — we never slowed down. If you never slow down, you never have to ramp up. That consistent pace has served us well.”

Adam Fogleman, Rule’s campaign manager, said the campaign was holding out hope.

“We’re still optimistic. We feel like the momentum at the end of the campaign was on our side. We did absolutely everything possible to connect with voters of the 2nd District and get Herb’s message out,” he said.

The money gap was an obstacle, Fogleman said, but money doesn’t replace hard work.

“It does makes it easier for someone who doesn’t want to get out and work to communicate to voters,” Fogleman said.

In unofficial and incomplete results in 174 of 376 precincts:

Griffin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120,852 Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93,401 Ward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,735 Hayes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,139

In eastern Arkansas and parts of the Ozarks, the 1st Congressional District looked likely to re-elect U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford of Jonesboro. Crawford captured the seat for the GOP in 2010, turning the district red for the first time since Reconstruction. Ellington, prosecuting attorney for the 2nd Judicial District, was joined on the ballot by Green Party candidate Jacob Holloway of Jonesboro and Libertarian Jessica Paxton of Marion.

In unofficial and incomplete results in 299 of 688 precincts:

Crawford. . . . . . . . . . . . 66,994 Ellington . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,816 Paxton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3,088 Holloway . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,337

Crawford’s chief of staff Jonah Shumate said that the key to the campaign was Crawford’s persistent warnings about the dangers of the nation’s debt.

“I think the thing folks saw in this election was the $16 trillion in debt and Congressman Crawford’s message of fiscal conservatism. That was the starkest difference,” Shumate said.

Ellington hadn’t given up shortly before 9 p.m., his campaign spokesman Cord Rapert said.

“We’re excited about the turnout, excited about the campaign that we’ve run. Of course fundraising was a challenge against an incumbent. But we’re okay with being the underdog. We perform best with our back against the wall,” Rapert said.

Without a Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Steve Womack of Rogers defeated two minor party candidates for re-election in Northwest Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District.

Rebekah Kennedy of Fort Smith for the Green Party and Libertarian David Pangrac of Van Buren remained as opponents.

In unofficial and incomplete results in 131 of 458 precincts:

Womack . . . . . . . . . . . . .92,243 Kennedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19,408 Pangrac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9,427

“I like the trend,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Womack. “I like what the numbers are demonstrating. Obviously, we still have a good number of votes yet to report, but I like where we are right now, and I’m anxious to have a shot at a second term.”

Griffin said he was looking forward to serving with fellow Republicans Womack, Crawford and Cotton in the U.S House of Representatives.

“That’s historic in and of itself,” he said.

Information for this article was contributed by Bill Bowden of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/07/2012

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