Arkansas

Guide for the Arkansas 2024 primary and nonpartisan general elections on March 5; deadline to register Feb. 5

Published

2 years ago

January 31, 2024

Guide for the Arkansas 2024 primary and nonpartisan general elections on March 5; deadline to register Feb. 5

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – Registered voters in Arkansas cast their ballots March 5 in a preferential primary, choosing to participate either as a Democrat or Republican. Ballots also include statewide nonpartisan races for judicial positions.

Early voting begins in Arkansas on Feb. 20.

To vote, citizens need to be registered with the county clerk’s office where you reside. The last day to register is Monday, Feb. 5. To check your voter registration status, go here ».

For those not registered, it is recommended to visit your local county clerk’s office on or before the deadline on Feb. 5. However, the proper voter registration form mailed with a postmark date no later than Feb. 5 will also be accepted. Registration forms may be downloaded in English or Spanish. Applications for absentee ballots and information for members of the military and other citizens who are overseas can be found here.

To see an actual ballot for your location, go to https://www.voterview.ar-nova.org/voterview, fill out your registration information, and then look for the sample ballot links at the bottom of your registration detail page.

Below is what voters can expect to see on the March 5 ballot, along with high profile races in counties around Region 8.

NATIONAL

All voters will see these national races, depending on their party ballot choice.

U.S. President:

Joseph R. Biden, Jr – Democrat
Marianne Williamson – Democrat
Dean Phillips – Democrat
Donald J. Trump – Republican
Nikki Haley – Republican
Ryan L. Binkley – Republican

NOTE: Ark. District 2 Congressman French Hill (R) for Cleburne and White Counties is running unopposed in the primary and will face a Democrat challenger in the Nov. General Election.

District 4 Congressman Rick Crawford (R) for most of Region 8 will run opposed in the primary and face a Democrat challenger this fall.

NONPARTISAN

All voters will see these races, without regard to their party ballot choice.

State Supreme Court Associate Justice Position 2

Judge Carlton D. Jones

State Supreme Court Justice Courtney Hudson

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Position 1

Supreme Court Justice Barbara Womack Webb

Jay Martin

Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Karen Baker

Supreme Court Justice Rhonda Wood

Voters in these judicial districts will see these races, without regard to their party ballot choice.

Circuit Judge, District 2, Division 4, At-Large

Curtis Walker, Jr.

Doug Brimhall

State District Judge District 23, Division 1

Judge Eric Kennedy

Chris O’Neill

State District Judge District 23, Division 2

Justin Mercer

Judge Mark Derrick

STATE SENATE

State Senate District 19

Tommy Wagner – Republican

Senator Dave Wallace – Republican

State Senate District 27

Timmy Reid – Republican

State Rep. Stephen Walker – Republican

STATE REPRESENTATIVE

State Rep. District 4

Justice Tink Albright – Republican

Jason Nazarenko – Republican

State Rep. District 30

State Rep. Fran Cavenaugh – Republican

Coty W. Powers – Republican

Republican winner will face Democrat Hamilton Holmes in the fall

State Rep. District 32

Brandt Smith – Republican

State Rep. Jack Ladyman – Republican

Republican winner will face Democrat David McAvoy in the fall

State Rep. District 35

Sherry Holliman – Democrat

Jessie McGruder – Democrat

Raymond Whiteside – Democrat

Councilman Demetris Johnson, Jr. – Democrat

Justice Robert Thorne, Jr. – Republican

Gary Tobar – Republican

State Rep. District 63

Mayor Lincoln Barnett – Democrat

Fred Leonard – Democrat

Constable Billy Thomen – Democrat

CRAIGHEAD

City of Bay Tax Proposal – A 1% sales and use tax to be added to the existing 1% sales and use tax already in effect.

City of Lake City – A 1% sales and use tax pledged to pay for bonds to be used for improvements to the Lake City water and sewer systems.

JP District 1

Brad Noel – Republican

Paul House – Republican

Andrew Stricklin – Republican

Winner will face Democrat Jolene Mullet in the fall.

JP District 5

Rick Myers – Republican

Don Mullenix – Republican

Winner will face Democrat Barbara Brown in the fall.

JP District 6

Darrell Cook – Republican

Michael Stull – Republican

JP District 7

Richard Rogers – Republican

Steve Floyd – Republican

Winner will face Democrat Chenoa Summers in the fall.

Constable D13

Scott Armstrong – Republican

Julian Dan Walker – Republican

GREENE

City of Paragould – New 0.75% sales and use tax within the city earmarked for public safety purposes.

JP District 6

JP Phillip Keeling – Republican

Don Lambert – Republican

JP District 11

John Shipman – Republican

Kirk Brinkley – Republican

Bula Constable

Constable Kevin Gillmore – Republican

Joe Pete Higdon – Republican

Dalton Constable

Lonnie Holloway – Republican

Constable David Howell – Republican

Paragould City Council Ward 1, Position 1

Tim Roswell – Republican

Bryan Privett – Republican

Paragould City Council Ward 3, Position 1

Dustin Rumsey – Republican

Jason Lincoln – Republican

Paragould City Council Ward 4, Position 1

Charles Nelson – Republican

Alderman Neal Adams – Republican

CLAY

Corning School District Millage – Proposed school tax levy of 36.5 mills, representing a 5 mill increase over current rate – For construction of a new high school – This may appear on some Randolph County ballots where voters live within the Corning school district.

Piggott School Board Position #3

Fallon Winscott

Will Jett

Piggott School Board Position #5

Richard Smart

Kristin Crittenden

JP District 3

Jeff Featherson – Republican

JP Patrick Patterson – Republican

JP District 6

Jeremy Woods – Republican

Dennis Haines – Republican

SHARP

JP District 9

Anna M. Stewart – Republican

Zach Baxter – Republican

JACKSON

Jackson County School District Millage – Proposed tax levy of 40.0 mills represents 1.5 mil increase in maintenance and operation and 2.5 mill for debt service for 4 mill increase over current rate, includes security improvements, safe room, and HVAC for Swifton gym.

JP District 4

Bryan Smith – Republican

Stephen Casteel – Republican

Brock Township Constable

James O. Thompson – Republican

James ‘Mickey’ Brock – Republican

Newport City Council Ward 4, Position 1

Donny Ivie – Republican

Allen Edwards – Republican

Tuckerman City Council Ward 2, Position 1

Terry Adams – Republican

Steven Finney – Republican

Tuckerman City Council Ward 3, Position 1

Ricky E. Herring – Republican

Kyler Soden – Republican

RANDOLPH

Richardson Constable

Larry Rogers – Republican

Victor E. Blevins – Republican

LAWRENCE

JP District 1

Pardo Roberts – Republican

Matthew Baldridge – Republican

JP District 6

Jeff Yates – Republican

Jeff Williams – Republican

JP District 9

Troy Owens – Republican

Andrea Dale Barnhill – Republican

Winner will face incumbent Alex Latham, running as an independent

Duty Township Constable

Cord Boggs – Republican

Shawn King – Republican

Reeds Creek Constable

Hunter Durham – Republican

Jason Bristow – Republican

POINSETT

East Poinsett County School District Millage – Proposing 7.9 mill increase over current tax rate for new building for grades 7-12 and maintaining other school facilities.

CROSS

1% Sales and Use Tax Special Election – Tax to be collected for 48 months to assist in operating and maintaining hospital and related healthcare facilities.

JP District 1

Amy Imboden – Republican

Renee Boeckmann – Republican

JP District 8

Jay Gahr – Republican

Jerry Rushing Republican

IZARD

JP District 1

Justin Sanders – Republican

Mark Simino – Republican

JP District 3

Randy ‘Hank’ Sherrell – Republican

Samuel Guiltner – Republican

JP District 6

Justin Thornton – Republican

Seth Engelhardt – Republican

JP District 7

Michael Cone – Republican

Gary Michael Morrison Jr. – Republican

Quillen P. Edwards – Republican

JP District 8

Adam Cooper – Republican

Doug Harber – Republican

JP District 9

Abranda Stephens – Republican

Richard (Rich) Emmens – Republican

New Hope Constable

Brett Stevenson – Republican

Eric Brantner – Republican

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Arkansas

Renegade wins 2026 Arkansas Derby

Published

8 hours ago

March 28, 2026

Press Room

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — After a hotly contested race, Renegade emerged as the winner of the 2026 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn on Saturday.

The horse is owned by Robert & Lawana L. Low and Repole Stable, trained by Todd Pletcher, and ridden by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Renegade entered the race with 3/2 odds to win.

Silent Tactic finished in second place and Taptastic took home third.

In addition to his share of the $1.5 million purse, Renegade also earned points toward the Kentucky Derby.

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Arkansas

ARKANSAS A-Z: Norris Church Mailer — From Atkins to literary fame | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Published

20 hours ago

March 28, 2026

Press Room

ARKANSAS A-Z: Norris Church Mailer — From Atkins to literary fame | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Norris Church Mailer became a model, actress and author after moving to New York to be with renowned writer Norman Mailer following their chance meeting in Arkansas at an event in Russellville. She published two semi-autobiographical novels, “Windchill Summer” and “Cheap Diamonds,” as well as a memoir, “A Ticket to the Circus,” which centers on her three-decade marriage to Mailer.

Born on Jan. 31, 1949, in Moses Lake, Wash., Norris Church Mailer began life as Barbara Jean Davis, being named for a little girl who lived next door. Her parents were homemaker Gaynell Phillips Davis and construction worker James Davis. They had briefly relocated from Arkansas to Washington state for her father’s work on the O’Sullivan Dam near Moses Lake. After the family returned to Arkansas, Barbara grew up in Atkins, where the family lived a simple life in the country without hot running water in the house or an indoor toilet. They attended a small, strict fundamentalist church several times a week. When Barbara was 3 years old, her mother saw an advertisement for the Little Miss Little Rock Contest and entered the child, who won.

The family moved from the country into town when Barbara was in first grade. There, they lived in a house with modern conveniences, including indoor plumbing. Barbara had a childhood friend whose name, Cherry, became the name of the heroine in her two novels.

Barbara attended school in the Atkins School District. After graduating from high school in 1967, she enrolled at Arkansas Polytechnic College (which later became Arkansas Tech University) in nearby Russellville. In 1969, she married her high school sweetheart, Larry Norris; two years later, they had a son, Matthew. In 1974, the marriage ended in divorce.

Norris Church Mailer signs books during an April 2010 “A Ticket to the Circus” book-tour stop at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Helaine R. Williams)

With her young son, Barbara moved to Russellville, where she worked as a high school art teacher. In 1975, she met renowned writer Norman Mailer at a party in Russellville when he was there on a visit. The party was held at the home of a mutual friend, author Francis Irby Gwaltney, who at the time was teaching at Arkansas Tech. Gwaltney and Mailer had become friends during World War II and remained close through the years.

Barbara stated in her autobiography that there was instant chemistry when she and Mailer met. Although she was several inches taller than Mailer, half his age and from a vastly different background, she said she knew the two would be together.

At the time they met, Mailer was in the process of breaking up with his fourth wife and seeing another woman who would (for the space of one day) become his fifth. Hailing from Brooklyn, N.Y., the Harvard-educated Mailer was a bestselling author whose World War II novel “The Naked and the Dead” (1948) brought him early fame. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1968 for “Armies of the Night” and another Pulitzer in 1979 for “The Executioner’s Song.”

After meeting Mailer in Russellville in 1975, Barbara followed him to New York. Their son, John Buffalo Mailer, was born in 1978. The couple married in 1980 (the same year he divorced his fourth wife and then married and divorced his fifth), with Barbara becoming Mailer’s sixth and final wife.

When Barbara began a successful career as a model, her husband suggested she change her name to Norris Church Mailer. The name was composed from her previous married name, and “Church,” based on her religious background when growing up in Arkansas. She and Mailer often entertained top-tier celebrities at their homes in New York and Provincetown, Mass. Billed as “Norris Mailer,” she appeared with her husband in the movie “Ragtime” (1981) and also had small roles in a few other films.

“Windchill Summer,” a semi-autobiographical novel by Norris Church Mailer that takes place in the fictional town of Sweet Valley, Arkansas; published in 2000
(Courtesy of Ballantine Books)

Church Mailer’s first novel, “Windchill Summer,” was published in 2000, depicting a coming-of-age story about a girl named Cherry Marshall growing up in Arkansas during the Vietnam War era. Its sequel, “Cheap Diamonds,” released in 2007, followed Marshall’s story as an aspiring model from Arkansas arriving in New York City during the 1970s. Church Mailer’s 2010 memoir, “A Ticket to the Circus,” described her tumultuous life with Norman Mailer. Among other things, she claimed in her memoir to have had a brief romantic relationship with future President Bill Clinton, who was in his late 20s at the time.

In 2000, Norris Church Mailer was diagnosed with a malignant gastrointestinal tumor. Defying the odds, she lived 10 years, nursing her husband through his final illness until he died in 2007. On Nov. 21, 2010, Church Mailer died at her home in New York. Wilkes University in Pennsylvania established the Norris Church Mailer Fellowship in Creative Writing in 2004. — Nancy Hendricks

This story is taken from the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas, a project of the Central Arkansas Library System. Visit the site at encyclopediaofarkansas.net.