LITTLE ROCK — As early voting for the June 12 primary runoffs began Tuesday, Democratic congressional candidates fanned across wide swaths of the state in efforts to re-energize supporters for what is expected to be a spare turnout.
In the 1st District, Prosecutor Scott Ellington of Jonesboro and state Rep. Clark Hall of Marvell were on the campaign trail hoping to win votes in their race for the Democratic nomination and the chance to face Republican incumbent Rick Crawford of Jonesboro in November.
Ellington visited senior centers in Blytheville and Osceola on Tuesday morning, traveled to Brinkley in the afternoon and was scheduled to wrap up public appearances with a meet-and-greet in Lonoke and a crawfish boil at the Prairie County Farm Bureau in Hazen.
He planned to spend the night in Little Rock ahead of a televised debate with Hall on Wednesday at the studios of KARK-TV.
“His theme for the debate will be similar to his theme for the campaign — jobs jobs jobs,” Ellington campaign manager Maria Hatta said, dispelling the notion that Ellington would be on the defensive because of repeated attacks from Hall about Ellington’s finances.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“We think this is just a desperate last attempt by our opponent because they were shocked by the results on May 22 and are aware that Prosecutor Ellington continues to gain momentum,” Hatta said.
Since Ellington narrowly missed avoiding a runoff with 49.5 percent of the vote in a three-way Democratic primary, Hall has been sniping at Ellington over a credit card company’s lawsuit against Ellington’s wife over thousands of dollars in unpaid bills, as well as two tax liens that were filed against Ellington in 2010 and have since been removed.
After a day of retail campaigning with House Speaker Robert Moore in Chicot and Desha counties Monday, Hall focused on education and business contacts in Desha and Lincoln counties Tuesday with his wife Becky, director of the Area Health Education Center in Phillips County. Hall also planned down time Tuesday night in Little Rock to prepare for Wednesday’s debate, in which campaign manager Forest Boles said Hall hoped to make the case that he would be the best Democratic challenger to Crawford.
“Our criticisms are more so contrasts (between Hall and Ellington) as far as accountability and credibility,” Boles said. “When Clark Hall had his issue with his homestead tax credit, he took ownership of it and corrected it immediately. A lot of these issues with Ellington have been going on for years.”
Earlier this year, Hall ceased claiming two homestead tax credits for properties in his wife’s name, credits he had been claiming since 2004. Arkansas law allows a homestead credit on only one home at a time.
Meanwhile, Hot Springs lawyer Q. Byrum Hurst and state Sen. Gene Jeffress of Louann campaigned Tuesday in the vast 4th District, where they are vying for the chance to face Republican Tom Cotton in November.
Hurst was in Sheridan for a Rotary Club meeting, after which he and volunteers spent the afternoon knocking on doors in the area. Today, he planned to campaign in Hot Springs and visit Little Rock for an interview with a local television station, said his campaign manager, Nicole Dorris.
Hurst also will be preparing for a KARK debate with Jeffress on Monday. Dorris said he will make the case that he is the best candidate to represent the district in Washington.
“He’s a 7th generation Arkansan. I think that’s really important,” she said. “He’s lived in Arkansas his whole life and he understands what people of the 4th District are concerned about, jobs and the economy. He wants to get up there and fight for those things, protect Social Security and Medicare and put the partisan bickering aside and focus on what really needs to get done.”
Jeffress, who has no paid campaign staff, was in Little Rock on Tuesday for television interviews, beginning at 5:45 a.m. Later, he visited the Hot Spring County Courthouse in Malvern and by early afternoon was on his way to Nashville, with stops also planned in Camden, El Dorado and Magnolia by day’s end.
In last year’s redistricting, the 4th District was expanded to include 33 counties from southeastern Arkansas to areas in the northwest part of the state.
“We’re really working it hard.,” Jeffress said. “Yesterday we made a 10-county swing through south-central and southwest Arkansas, and tomorrow on our schedule is the Arkansas River Valley and Northwest Arkansas up to Huntsville at the very extreme (north end of the district) in Madison County.”
Jeffress said the message he planned to convey in Monday’s debate is that he will work hard to represent the “regular people” of the 4th District — something he said he has already shown on the campaign trail.
“It’s not all about just being on TV. It’s about getting out, meeting your folks and being there for your constituents,” he said.
For all four Democratic congressional candidates, the most daunting task likely will be getting out the vote. Just 22 percent of Arkansas’ 1.2 million registered voters cast ballots in the May 22 primary, and turnout for runoffs in the heat of late spring typically is even lower.
“Turnout is the toughest obstacle,” Hatta, Ellington’s campaign chief, acknowledged. “He is continuing to reach out to those who voted for him last month while making new contacts as he travels the district. It is a very difficult task.”
The secretary of state’s office is projecting a turnout for the runoffs of about 10 percent. By 4 p.m. Tuesday, 1,816 people had voted.
Monday will be the last day of early voting. Polls will be open Tuesday for the runoff from 7:30 a.m to 7:30 p.m.