U.S. Sen. John Boozman easily retains seat

Ex-U.S. attorney, Libertarian no barrier to second term

Sen. John Boozman celebrates his re-election Tuesday night at a Republican watch party in Little Rock.
Sen. John Boozman celebrates his re-election Tuesday night at a Republican watch party in Little Rock.

Republican John Boozman handily won re-election Tuesday to a second six-year term in the U.S. Senate.

Boozman of Rogers turned back challenges from Democrat Conner Eldridge of Fayetteville and Libertarian Frank Gilbert of Tull.

With 2,301 out of 2,534 precincts reporting, unofficial returns were:

Boozman 606,711

Eldridge 364,937

Gilbert 39,349

Boozman, 65, has served in the U.S. Senate since 2011, after he ousted Democrat Blanche Lincoln in November 2010, and was the state's 3rd District U.S. representative from 2001-11. In the March 1 primary, he defeated Republican businessman Curtis Coleman of Little Rock.

Eldridge, 39, was the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas from 2010-15 and is former chief executive officer of Summit Bank. Gilbert, 66, is an in-school suspension manager at Bauxite Middle School and a former mayor of Tull.

Boozman said "we were really pleased with the vote that we got."

He credited both the hard work of his campaign staff in getting his message out and his U.S. Senate staff in helping people with their everyday problems.

"We're looking forward to the next six years. We've got to come together. I'm the new senator again, so I am committed to putting aside party labels this time, working for the benefit of everybody and doing our very best to solve some of the significant problems that the state and the country face," Boozman said.

Eldridge said he challenged Boozman because he cares deeply about Arkansas and the nation, adding, "We have come up a little short."

He declined to detail why he thought he lost, saying he would leave that analysis to others.

Eldridge said he is proud of the campaign he waged and that he always wants to be involved in making Arkansas a better place. He said he congratulated Boozman on his victory in a telephone call and wished him and his family "nothing but the best."

Gilbert said the election results are "a little disappointing that an incumbent of that caliber can win so easily."

"But Arkansas is a deep-red state, and he's a deep-red senator," he said.


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Conner Eldridge holds his son Henry after his loss to U.S. Sen. John Boozman on Tuesday night.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

U.S. Senate race map

Arkansas Republicans have made historic gains in state and federal offices by linking Democratic candidates to President Barack Obama during the past few elections. The GOP holds all six congressional seats, all seven of the state's constitutional officer posts, and control of the state Senate and state House of Representatives.

Boozman maintained that he should be re-elected because he's "right on the issues, trying to limit government, trying to have a government that works, trying to watch our spending and trying to keep federal taxes to a minimum."

He said his top priorities would include reining in regulations from the Obama administration, reducing federal budget deficits and debt, and working on a farm bill to make sure Southern agriculture is taken care of and safety nets are in place so farmers can get loans.

In September 2015, Eldridge opened his bid to oust Boozman shortly after tendering his resignation in his U.S. attorney post.

During his campaign, he contended it was time to ditch the Republican incumbent and elect someone who has a more aggressive approach to serving the state in Washington, D.C.

He said his top priorities included improving the state's health care system, cutting federal budget deficits and debt, and securing the border with Mexico and providing a pathway to legalization for illegal aliens.

Eldridge said he didn't consider his appointment as U.S. attorney by Obama to be an issue in the race, saying the job of a federal prosecutor isn't political. Boozman said he disagreed because political appointments are based on appointees' support for the president.

Eldridge declined to say whether he would have voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed by Obama in 2010, but he said he opposes repealing it and he wants to work on improving it and controlling rising health care costs.

Using funding available under the federal law, Arkansas enacted its own version of Medicaid expansion for low-income Arkansans in 2013. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson is seeking a waiver from the federal government for a revised program called Arkansas Works that he said would encourage work and personal responsibility for the roughly 300,000 Arkansans enrolled in the program.

Eldridge said he supports Arkansas Works and that Boozman wants to do away with it.

Boozman said he voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act because it's a "failed experiment." But he said he would like the federal money that states have accepted for Medicaid expansion to be distributed in the form of block grants, so states would have flexibility on deciding how to help the uninsured.

Boozman said he supported Republican Donald Trump for president because the nation's next leader will make appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court and Democrat Hillary Clinton wants to continue Obama's agenda.

Eldridge said he supported Clinton because Trump doesn't have the temperament to serve as president.

Gilbert said both Clinton and Trump are flawed candidates and that Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico, is a man of good character, of competence and of a steady nature that's needed.

Gilbert had said he was the only candidate whose election would shake up the status quo in the nation's capital.

Gilbert said he favored repealing the Affordable Care Act because he doesn't know how to make it work. As for the Arkansans enrolled in the Medicaid expansion, he said it would be cheaper to put free clinics in each county for those who are indigent or temporarily without adequate finances.

According to campaign-finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Boozman raised $3.9 million and spent $2.9 million from Jan. 1, 2015-Oct. 19. He reported $1.3 million cash on hand.

Eldridge reported raising $1.8 million, including $220,000 in loans to his campaign, and spending $1.8 million between Aug. 28, 2015, and Oct. 19. He subsequently reported lending $350,000 to his campaign.

A report for Gilbert wasn't available on the commission's website.

Information for this article was contributed by Aziza Musa of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A Section on 11/09/2016

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