Private-option foe Scott Flippo of Mountain Home on Tuesday narrowly defeated private-option architect state Rep. John Burris of Harrison for the Republican nomination in Senate District 17.
He's in line to replace an incumbent who had voted for the program to expand government-funded health care.
The Flippo-Burris contest is the latest legislative race in which the future of the state's private option -- which uses federal Medicaid funds to purchase private health insurance for low-income Arkansans -- was a dominant issue.
With a supermajority needed to continue funding for the program, the loss of a few supporters could threaten its survival.
In this year's fiscal session, the Senate reauthorized funding for the program by a vote of 27-8 with no votes to spare.
Since then, voters have unseated one of those private-option supporters.
In the May 20 primary election, state Sen. Bruce Holland, R-Greenwood, who backed the program, was ousted by state Rep. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, a private-option opponent.
Burris was one of three leading legislative architects of the private option.
Supporters of the private option maintain that it's a conservative alternative to Obamacare that was created by Arkansans, noting that the state obtained waivers from the federal government for it.
Opponents of the private option often call it Obamacare because funding was made possible by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. A Flippo mailer attempted to link Burris with Obama, saying Burris "chose to work for [President Barack] Obama rather than Arkansas," in creating the private option. Burris on Monday expressed frustration with Flippo's campaign tactics. People are tired of the negative campaigning and "how tacky and juvenile that the Flippo campaign has [been] run," he said.
With all precincts reporting, the unofficial results were:
Flippo ...........................3,913
Burris........................... 3,712
Flippo said Burris called him Tuesday night to congratulate him on his victory.
He said he believes he won because "we were on the right side of the issues," and "we had a great ground game."
"The private option was a major issue, but it was not the only thing that was discussed," Flippo said, referring to his opposition to the Common Core educational standards and extending term limits. Burris has said he also opposed the Common Core standards and a proposed constitutional amendment altering term limits.
Asked why Flippo won, Burris said there's always many factors in a political contest.
Asked whether the private option proved pivotal in the race, Burris said "I think there is many moving pieces, and the race is always about more than one issue. ... There are lots of facets in each race."
Flippo will be unopposed in the Nov. 4 general election and succeed state Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, who accepted a job as an associate vice president of university relations for the University of Arkansas System, starting in January, after he decided not to seek re-election.
District 17 includes parts of Baxter, Boone and Marion counties.
Burris has served in the state House of Representatives since 2009, where he is chairman of the powerful House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee. He previously served as House Republican leader and is currently on leave as political director for U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton's U.S. Senate campaign.
Flippo is making his first bid for elected office. He's been helped by the Fayetteville-based anti-private-option group called Conduit in Action, which has sent out mailers and aired ads attacking Burris.
Burris and Flippo advanced to the June 10 runoff by winning 42.6 percent and 41.9 percent, respectively, of the primary vote.
Mountain Home Mayor David Osmon, who finished third with 15.5 percent of the vote, subsequently endorsed Burris. But Flippo picked up the endorsement of unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate Curtis Coleman of Little Rock, who narrowly carried Baxter County last month.
The Senate runoff race has been spiced up by the filing of two ethics complaints against Burris by Flippo supporters.
Edward George Geier of Harrison filed a complaint last month with the state Ethics Commission alleging that Burris has been serving and receiving compensation as a representative of a state House district in which he does not reside, claiming expense reimbursements beyond the maximum amount allowed under state law, and filing incomplete personal financial disclosure reports.
Burris has called Geier's complaint "an election-day gimmick ... orchestrated by a campaign that will do anything to get elected." Flippo has declined to comment about Geier's complaint.
Earlier this month, David Singer of White Hall filed a similar complaint against Burris. Burris said the Ethics Commission will dismiss both complaints.
A complaint has also been filed with the Republican Party of Arkansas against a speaker at a Flippo rally last week, 1st Congressional District party Chairman Benny Speaks of Mountain Home.
Speaks sang a song mocking Burris at a Flippo rally in Mountain Home. A Burris ally, state Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena, filed a complaint alleging Speaks violated a new party rule that prevents the district chairman from showing favoritism in a party primary.
Burris helped design the private-option program along with state Sens. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, and Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy.
The expansion of the Medicaid program, approved by the Legislature last year, extends coverage to adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level -- $16,105 for an individual or $32,913 for a family of four.
More than 140,000 people have obtained health-insurance coverage through the program since enrollment began Oct. 1, according to the state Department of Human Services.
The federal government will pay the full cost of covering the newly eligible enrollees until 2017, when states will begin paying 5 percent of the cost. The states' share will then rise each year until it reaches 10 percent in 2020.
During the last week of the campaign, Burris said Flippo's "plan for dealing with Obamacare is to sit and wait, but our hospitals don't have that luxury."
But Flippo said he disagreed with Burris' "doomsday scenarios ... if we do nothing" with Affordable Care Act funds for the Medicaid expansion. He said he favored "a responsible scale-backed rollback" of the private-option program over a year's time.
Metro on 06/11/2014