Republicans appeared to have won at least four of seven contested legislative races in Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday, bolstering the chances the party will control both the state House and state Senate beginning in January.
State Rep. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, won his first race for Senate, defeating Diana Gonzales Worthen in Washington County’s only contested Senate race.
Washington County released early voting numbers about 8 p.m. Tuesday. Woods got 6,017 votes (66 percent) to Worthen’s 3,094 (34 percent). In the 2008 general election, 35 percent of all votes cast in the county were early ballots.
Woods, 34, has served as a state representative since 2007. He is term-limited in that position. In the Senate he will represent District 7, which covers Springdale, Goshen and Elkins.
Late Tuesday, he credited his apparent victory to the relationships he’s established during his time in the Legislature.
“I’m not a do-nothing lawmaker,” he said. “I take the role very seriously, and I work hard. The position means a lot to me, and I think that registers with a lot of people.”
He said he was humbled and surprised by the margin of victory.
Woods owns a consulting business, but has said his main job is being a lawmaker. He said he is able to be a full-time legislator because he has no mortgage or significant debt. State legislators earn $15,869 per year plus expenses, except for the speaker of the House and the Senate president, who earn $17,771.
Woods unseated incumbent Bill Pritchard, R-Elkins, in the GOP primary. He has said he would oppose tax increases and does not support Gov. Mike Beebe’s plan to expand Medicaid coverage to include 250,000 more Arkansans, a change that would cost the federal government an additional $900 million per year for Arkansas’ portion.
Worthen, 50, is director of a program called Project Teach Them All at the University of Arkansas. This was her second try for a political office; she also lost in the 2006 Democratic primary for the state House District 89 seat.
House District 84
A tight race showed state Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, holding off challenger Adella Gray.
Early voting results had Collins with 2,964 votes (51 percent) to Gray’s 2,839 (49 percent).
House District 84 includes north Fayetteville and parts of central and southeast Washington County.
Collins, 49, narrowly defeated Jim House, a Democrat, in his first legislative race in 2010. He’s a U.S. Navy veteran and a partner in Crown Partners Executive Search, which recruits executives for business clients.
Collins is intent on reducing the state’s income tax in a way that would benefit the working poor, not higher-earning taxpayers. He believes the reduction is key because the income tax hurts the state’s economic competitiveness with surrounding states. He has proposed a step-by-step process to reduce income taxes at a gradual rate so as to avoid seriously affecting the state budget.
Gray, 72, has served on Fayetteville City Council since 2007. Her current council term expires at the end of 2014.
Gray has advocated a means test as a way to help make ends met in the state’s scholarship lottery program. Scholarships should be reduced to students with families able to bear their own higher education expenses, she said. Collins opposed such a proposal.
Gray supports the governor’s continued priority on cutting taxes on groceries, but said Collins’ income tax plan will ultimately benefit the richest people and companies more than anyone else.
House District 85
Democrat David Whitaker was leading Republican Paul Graham in the race for House District 85, which covers Farmington and parts of east and south Fayetteville.
Early voting numbers showed Whitaker with 2,875 votes (60 percent) to Graham’s 1,938 votes (40 percent).
Whitaker, 51, a lawyer and former assistant city attorney for Fayetteville, made a failed bid for U.S. Congress in 2010. Graham, 43, is a Farmington businessman who has served on Farmington City Council and Washington County Quorum Court.
Whitaker supports the expansion of Medicaid coverage in the state. Graham opposes it.
House District 86
Incumbent Greg Leding, a Democrat, held off a challenge by Republican Brian Scott.
Early voting numbers showed Leding with 2,587 votes (64 percent) to Graham’s 1,464 votes (36 percent).
District 86 includes a large portion of the city of Fayetteville, including the University of Arkansas.
Leding, 33, won a second term in the House despite supporting a controversial proposal during last year’s redistricting process that would have made Fayetteville part of south Arkansas’ 4th Congressional District. That proposal failed. Leding has stood by his support of that proposal. Scott, 28, said the issue convinced him to run against Leding.
Leding is House co-chairman of the subcommittee that oversees Medicaid and hospitals. He said he will support the expansion of Medicaid. Scott said expanding Medicaid was something he was willing to consider.
Leding is a self-employed Web and graphic designer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Arkansas.
House District 88
Randy Alexander, a Republican who made an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 2010, had a large lead in the early voting results.
Numbers showed Alexander with 2,633 votes (67 percent) to Democrat Edwin Sugg’s 1,302 votes (33 percent).
Alexander, 61, is a retired director of housing and student affairs at the University of Arkansas. He’s also a former chairman of the Washington County Tea Party.
District 88 covers mostly west and south Springdale.
Alexander supports charter schools and other alternatives in public education, including school vouchers, which would allow taxpayer money to go to private schools. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in student personnel from Texas A&M-Commerce.
Sugg, 52, is a self-employed engineer and substitute teacher.
House District 89
Former Washington County Justice of the Peace Micah Neal held a substantial lead late Tuesday over Yessie Hernandez in a battle of first-time candidates for the Legislature.
Early voting numbers showed Neal with 1,136 votes (67 percent) to Hernandez’s 565 votes (33 percent). District 89 covers north Springdale.
Neal, 37, owns Neal’s Cafe in Springdale. He is the fourth generation of the family to run the business. He served nine years on the Quorum Court before resigning last year, an experience he said helped him understand the needs of Washington County residents.
Neal said people of his district want less government regulation. He supports efforts by the state to get an exemption from the federal ethanol requirement for gasoline.
Hernandez, 35, is safety manager of TTT Foods in Springdale and president of the Northwest Arkansas Hispanic Council. She had no political experience entering this race.
House District 95
Partial results out of Benton County showed Sue Scott, a Republican, leading independent Mark Moore by a substantial margin in the District 95 race.
Scott had 4,039 votes (63 percent) to Moore’s 2,362 votes (37 percent). Those results included only electronic votes from early voting.
Scott, 58, is the retired owner of a Rogers-based catering business and the wife of Circuit Judge John Scott. She faced no opposition in the GOP primary.
Moore, 51, is an independent right of way agent. He said he decided to run as an independent because he thinks too many politicians do what’s best for their party, not the people they represent.
Neither candidate had any prior political experience.
Scott said she was undecided about expanding Medicaid coverage. Moore said he opposed it.
One of Scott’s major legislative priorities will be child safety, particularly against child predators. She also has said she will be an advocate for the elderly.