Heffley files to run Feb. 13 for District 16 Senate seat

Luke Heffley of Russellville filed Monday to become the second candidate in the Feb. 13 Republican primary election for the vacant state Senate seat in District 16.

Heffley is a special projects coordinator at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. District 16 is comprised of Newton and Pope counties and parts of Boone, Carroll and Van Buren counties.

The District 16 seat became vacant upon last month's death of state Sen. Greg Standridge, R-Russellville, after his battle with cancer.

The other candidate for the Republican nomination is Breanne Davis of Russellville, who filed Thursday. Davis is a senior account executive for the global analytics firm SAS Institute and a member of the Russellville School Board.

The candidate filing period for special elections to fill three vacant legislative seats ends at noon Wednesday in the secretary of state's office. The other two vacant seats are in Senate District 29 and House District 83.

The Senate District 29 seat became vacant with last month's resignation of Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, to serve as President Donald Trump's representative to the Southern States Energy Board. The House District 83 seat opened with last month's resignation of Rep. David Branscum, R-Marshall, to be the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development director in Arkansas.

So far, J. Donald Ragland and Timmy Reid, both Republicans from Marshall, have filed for the House District 83 seat and Cabot Republican Ricky Hill of Cabot has filed for the Senate District 29 seat.

House District 83 comprises Newton County and parts of Boone, Carroll, Pope and Searcy counties. Senate District 29 is comprised of parts of Faulkner, Lonoke, Pulaski and White counties.

The party primaries for all three seats will be Feb. 13. If special primary runoff elections are needed for any of the three seats, they will be held March 13. The special general election for the seats will be May 22 -- the same day as the regular primary election.

Metro on 12/12/2017

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