Little Rock, Arkansas: Sarah Huckabee Sanders Wins Second Term as Governor, Defeats Fred Love

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders won a second four-year term on Tuesday, defeating Democratic state Sen. Fred Love of Mabelvale in a race the Associated Press called as the count neared completion. In the AP's unofficial results, with 98.59 percent of precincts reporting and an estimated 98.6 percent of the vote counted, Sanders had 474,742 votes to 340,738 for Love and 66,373 for Libertarian Colt Shelby. That is about 54 percent of the vote for the Republican governor.

The margin held steady all night. At 10:30 p.m., with 51.12 percent of precincts fully reporting, the secretary of state's website showed Sanders at 54 percent with 384,681 votes, ahead of Love at 38.42 percent with 273,876 votes and Shelby at 7.62 percent with 54,338 votes, according to Talk Business and Politics. Sanders was first elected in 2022 with 63 percent of the vote, and she was a heavy favorite in her reelection bid.

A race run on very different budgets

The money gap matched the result. According to her most recent ethics filings with the secretary of state's office, Sanders had raised $8.9 million for her campaign and spent $9.9 million. Love had raised less than $274,000 and spent a little less than $296,000. Shelby had raised $50,314 and spent $51,744. Love, a state senator, never closed that gap, and the governor's campaign controlled the airwaves through the fall in a state that has backed Republicans in every statewide contest for more than a decade.

The second term test

Dr. Hal Bass, a political science professor emeritus at Ouachita Baptist University who taught Sanders, told Talk Business and Politics that much of her success in a second term will depend on her own electoral ambitions, including a possible run for the United States Senate. A second-term governor, he said, has developed an understanding of the process but also suffers from lame-duck status because people are looking to the future. "I think she's got pretty good control of the state bureaucracy," Bass said. He said Sanders will have to mend fences with Republicans she has antagonized, and that she can be successful because she will keep large Republican majorities in the Legislature.

The rest of the Arkansas ballot

Arkansas voters also reelected Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, whom the AP called the winner with 477,993 votes to 374,631 for Democrat Hallie Shoffner and 29,292 for Libertarian Jeff Wadlin. State Sen. Kim Hammer, a Republican from Benton, was headed toward election as secretary of state with 56 percent of the vote, ahead of Democrat Kelly Grappe at 39 percent and Libertarian Dr. Michael Pakko at 4.5 percent. Lt. Gov. Leslie Rutledge was headed toward reelection at 64 percent to 36 percent. Shelby's showing carries one lasting change: by crossing the 3 percent barrier, the Libertarian Party will not have to collect signatures to qualify for the 2028 ballot. The results are unofficial until they are certified.