ROGERS -- Incumbent state Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, a Republican, defeated the first Democratic opponent she had faced in her career representing District 3.
Former Benton County Circuit Judge Jon Comstock, 68, a Democrat, said previously Bledsoe had gone unchallenged too long.
The complete but unofficial vote totals were:
• Bledsoe:13,838(63%)
• Comstock: 8,218(37%)
Bledsoe, 74, said when she announced, before Comstock entered the race, this would be her third and last term if re-elected.
Senate District 3 goes from the Missouri border on the north to northern Springdale in the south. It almost surrounds Beaver Lake on the east and extends through Rogers on the west. It includes all of Bethel Heights, Pea Ridge, Avoca and Gateway plus an eastern portion of Lowell.
Bledsoe said during the campaign that she's the more conservative match for the district. Bledsoe first won election to the House in 1998 and served three terms there, returning to run for the Senate in 2008. She cited her record on lowering taxes and on crafting a telemedicine bill, which she said will be of particular value to rural Arkansans.
Comstock criticized Bledsoe's opposition to Arkansas Works, the the state's health care plan that accepts federal taxpayer money to subsidize private insurance policies for low-income Arkansans.
Repeal of the measure would be "a disaster" for health care for all Arkansans and for rural hospitals in particular, he said.
Bledsoe's opposition in principle to accepting federal taxpayer dollars under health care reform passed by Congress in 2010 is no secret to voters in her district and she has had their support, the senator said.
Bledsoe is chairwoman of the Senate's Public Health Committee. Her husband, Jim, is a surgeon who now works for the state Department of Health and son Greg is the state's surgeon general. That isn't appropriate, Comstock said. Bledsoe countered her family members are more than qualified for the positions they hold.
Comstock criticized Bledsoe's decision in years past to provide some state General Improvement Fund grants to Ecclesia College in Springdale, a private religious school. The school was later found to be paying kickbacks to other lawmakers in return for larger grants, but Bledsoe was never implicated in the scandal.
Senators are elected to four-year terms and are paid $40,188 a year.
Politics on 11/06/2018