No filing-fee changes, Democratic Party says

The Democratic Party of Arkansas' filing fees for state and federal offices aren't changing for candidates seeking election in 2016 because there is no compelling reason to do so, party Chairman Vince Insalaco said Monday.

Filing fees will be $12,000 to run for the U.S. Senate, $10,000 for U.S. House of Representatives, $4,500 for state Senate, and $3,500 for state House of Representatives, party spokesman H.L. Moody said after the party's State Committee approved the fees during its meeting Saturday in Bentonville.

The party's filing fee will be $2,500 for presidential candidates, Moody said, adding that the Democratic National Committee set that fee.

The state party charged the same filing fees during the 2014 election as it plans to do so during the 2016 election, and assessed the same fee for presidential candidates during the 2012 election as it will in 2016, he said.

Insalaco said that "we hope to raise as much money as possible through filing fees."

"That's why our candidate recruiting efforts are so important," he said in a written statement.

The state Democratic Party raised about $400,000 from filing fees both in 2012 and 2014, Moody said.

The Republican Party of Arkansas' State Committee decided last month to keep its filing fees at previous levels, too.

The party's filing fee will be $25,000 for GOP presidential candidates, $20,000 for the U.S. Senate, $15,000 for the U.S. House, $7,500 for state Senate and $3,000 for the state House.

Seventeen Republicans have announced their candidacy for president, while five Democrats have said they are running for their party's nomination.

If all 17 Republicans file to run for president in Arkansas, that would raise presidential filing fees of $425,000 for the state GOP. Four Republican presidential candidates appeared on the 2012 ballot, raising $100,000.

Republican Party of Arkansas Chairman Doyle Webb has said he expects to raise a similar amount in filing fees in 2016 as in the past two election cycles "depending on the number of candidates filing."

The party raised about $650,000 in filing fees in 2012 and again in 2014, according to the party's political director, Isaac Foley.

The parties' filing period for state and federal offices will be from noon Nov. 2 until noon Nov. 9 at the state Capitol, according to the secretary of state's office.

The filing period is about four months earlier than usual because Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, in May signed into law a bill moving the state's 2016 primary election from May 24 to March 1. The shift will allow Arkansas to participate with several other Southern states in what the move's backers call the SEC presidential primary.

Other Southern states that plan to have a March 1 primary include Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee and Virginia.

The SEC is the Southeastern Conference, an intercollegiate athletic conference.

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, a Republican from Rogers, and the state's four Republican congressmen -- Reps. Steve Womack of Rogers, Rick Crawford of Jonesboro, Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs and French Hill of Little Rock -- are each seeking re-election in 2016.

U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge of Fayetteville -- whom some Democrats have urged to run for the U.S. Senate -- has said he "will seriously consider what I am going to do" after his resignation becomes effective on Friday.

Former Little Rock School Board member Dianne Curry has said she hopes to announce by mid-September whether she'll challenge Hill.

All 100 seats of the state House of Representatives and 17 of 35 seats in the state Senate also are up for grabs in next year's election.

The state House has 63 Republicans, 36 Democrats and an independent. The Senate is composed of 24 Republicans and 11 Democrats. Eleven of the 17 Senate seats to be contested in 2016 are held by Republicans and the other six are held by Democrats.

Metro on 08/18/2015

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