Barnett, McGruder win Democratic runoffs for House seats

Nominees win primary votes, will face GOP opponents in November

By Ralph Hardin

news@theeveningtimes.com

The votes are in and Crittenden County residents know who will be on the Democratic side of the ballot in the upcoming elections to fill a pair of soon-to-be-vacant seats in the Arkansas House of Representatives.

Tuesday’s Democratic primary runoff finally settled the party’s nominees for the House District 35 seat and the House District 63 seat. Those seats are being vacated by long-serving State Representatives Milton Nicks and Deborah Ferguson respectively at the end of their current terms.

In the District 35 race, which includes Marion, Turrell, Earle, Crawfordsville, Jericho, a sliver of West Memphis and other rural areas, Jessie McGruder outpolled Raymond Whiteside by a margin of 393 to 272 to secure the nomination. McGruder will now face Republican nominee Robert Thorne Jr. Thorne was victorious in his primary back in March, defeating Gary Tobar by a wide margin.

In the District 63 race, which includes most of West Memphis, as well as Horseshoe Lake, Edmondson, Hughes, Forrest City and parts of St.

Francis County, Hughes Mayor Lincoln Barnett came out on top against Fred Leonard, 601 to 474. Leonard actually outpolled Barnett in Crittenden County, 338-223, but Barnett pulled most of his support from his neighboring communities.

Barnett will now face off with the Republican nominee Tammi Northcutt Bell in the Nov. 5 General Election. Bell was unopposed in her bid to become the GOP nominee in the March 5 primary.

As is typically the case in runoff elections, turnout was low for both races, with fewer than 2,500 total ballots cast across both races, or about 8.7% turnout.

For comparison, the March 5 primary and nonpartisan judicial elections drew a 20.6% turnout and the 2022 general election had a 50.8% turnout.

With only seven provisional ballots to be considered by the Crittenden County Election Commission Monday, April 8, the results, still officially unofficial until the vote is certified, are expected to stand without incident or objection.

The Election Commission will meet Monday at noon in the County Annex Building in order to certify the vote. The public is invited to attend.

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