The Mayberrys and Creekmores are at it again in a race for the Legislature.

Andy Mayberry of Hensley and Mike Creekmore of Bauxite face off in the District 27 Republican primary. Both men -- and their wives -- have served in the Legislature before.

Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, is a freshman stepping down from the District 27 seat. Dawn Creekmore served the district from 2005 to 2011, when Andy Mayberry was sworn in.

"You can find a lot of places that have both of our signs," Andy Mayberry said. "It is what it is."

The Creekmores both served as Democrats in the Legislature, but Mike Creekmore is running this time as a Republican. He said he's always been conservative.

"There were a lot of conservative Democrats at the time," he said. "When [President Barack] Obama got into office, that switched a lot of conservative Democrats over to Republicans. You kind of felt that the party had left you behind."

The party primary is March 1. The winner will face Melissa Fults of Hensley, a Democratic dairy goat farmer and active supporter of the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act, which would legalize medical marijuana. Much of District 27 covers the East End community in Saline County, but the district stretches west to Interstate 30 to cover parts of Bryant and Alexander.

Andy Mayberry and Mike Creekmore both said they are fiscally conservative, anti-abortion and support the right to openly carry weapons.

The candidates have different views when it comes to the private option, which increased the number of people who qualify for Medicaid.

Under the private option, the state uses federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for low-income Arkansans. Almost 200,000 Arkansans have health insurance through the private option, according to the state Department of Human Services.

In 2017, the federal waiver authorizing the private option expires, and Arkansas will begin paying a portion of the program's cost. The state's share will start at 5 percent and rise each year until 2020, when it reaches 10 percent -- an estimated $173 million.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson has vowed to continue the Medicaid expansion with some tweaks, including referring unemployed enrollees to job programs and finding ways to reduce the state expenditure on Medicaid by at least $50 million a year.

Andy Mayberry said he would vote for the governor's plan to keep the Medicaid expansion.

"The private option was a unique alternative and, I believe, a conservative approach to the problems we were faced with," he said. "Is the private option perfect? Absolutely not."

He said it's better to take the federal money and provide insurance for low-income residents since Arkansans will pay the same Medicaid taxes regardless.

Mike Creekmore said he would have voted against the private option in 2013, but he's undecided now.

"I do know there needs to be changes on it. What changes there needs to be? I read about different ones every day," he said. "I really need to have more information."

He said he wants to see personal responsibility emphasized as part of the program.

"Everybody wants to help people who can't help themselves, but the people that can work, they ought to work," he said. "The people that can pay, ought to pay something to it."

The Mayberrys run an advertising company and The East Ender newspaper. Andy Mayberry is president of Arkansas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group. He is 45, has four children and attended Henderson State University.

During an interview, he focused on economic development. The largest pre-approved megasite for industrial development in Arkansas is in East End, he said.

Andy Mayberry promoted the site as communications director for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission a decade ago and said he would continue to push for its development as a lawmaker.

Asked about InvestArk -- an economic development incentive that focused on factory expansions -- Mayberry said he would like to see a legislative task force study each incentive to ensure the state gets a positive return on investment.

He said he wants to see more job training for the state.

Mike and Dawn Creekmore serve as president and vice president of Arkansas Power Products, which owns the Battery Giant store in Little Rock. Mike Creekmore is a member of the Saline County Quorum Court. He is 52, has two daughters and attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

If elected, he said, he would like to focus on consumer and child protection -- issues he said he championed when he held the District 27 seat from 1999 to 2004.

He said he's most proud of Act 330 of 2003, which put the names, faces and addresses of the state's most serious sex offenders on the Arkansas Crime Information Center's website.

"That made a big difference. People could see who moved into their community and watch out -- especially if they have kids," he said.

Mike Creekmore said some of the laws he sponsored more than a decade ago need to be updated. He also said he wants to ensure tax dollars are spent well and there aren't tax increases -- issues he said he's focused on while serving on the Saline County Quorum Court.

Julie Mayberry said she is stepping down from her seat because one of her daughters, Katie, has spina bifida and has been in and out of the hospital. She said it was hard to be both a mother and a lawmaker.

Besides, "we do everything together. If you've talked to him, you've talked to me," she said of her husband. "That's how we do life. That's how we raise our kids. That's how we run our businesses."

SundayMonday on 02/15/2016