The Democratic Party of Arkansas and four individuals are suing Gov. Sarah Sanders to force the special election to fill the vacant state House District 70 seat to be held next March 3 rather than June 9.
The five petitioners seek an election early enough to ensure the central Arkansas district is represented during the next legislative fiscal session, which begins April 8, 2026.
Sanders has set the special election for June 9 following party primary elections on March 3, the same day as the scheduled statewide primary election.
The suit asks the court to issue a writ of mandamus commanding Sanders to set the special election for March 3. It seeks a primary election date of either Dec. 9 or Jan. 13, with a runoff three weeks later.
The District 70 seat was vacated Sept. 30 when Rep. Carlton Wing, R-North Little Rock, resigned to become Arkansas PBS’ executive director.
The suit says the June 9 date will guarantee the citizens of House District 70 will not be represented in the fiscal session.
“Since the focus of the Fiscal Session is how to spend the people’s tax dollars, the Proclamation imposes taxation without representation,” the suit says.
The petitioners filed the suit in Pulaski County Circuit Court Oct. 21. The other petitioners are Cordelia Smith-Johnson, a Democratic candidate for the District 70 position, along with citizens William Scott Perkins, Janie Ginocchio and Julie Rhodes. The Kutak Rock law firm is representing the petitioners. Secretary of State Cole Jester is also a defendant.
The suit says Arkansas law requires the governor to call a special election “on a date as soon as possible” and within 150 days after a vacancy occurs. The law allows that amount of time to be exceeded only if “the governor determines it is impracticable or unduly burdensome” to do so earlier. If that is the case, the law requires the election to be held “as soon as practicable.”
The suit says the governor’s discretion ends after 150 days.
“The only question after 150 days pass is, ‘when is the earliest practicable election date?’” it says.
March 3 is 154 days from the vacancy and is a practical day for the special election, the suit says.
Furthermore, it says that neither the state Constitution nor state law give the governor discretion to set a primary election date more than 150 days after a vacancy arises.
The lawsuit is the second to be filed attempting to compel the governor to move up the date of a special election to cover a legislative vacancy. Another vacancy had occurred in District 26 on Sept. 2 with the death of Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch. Franklin County resident Colt Shelby filed a suit in Pulaski County Circuit Court Oct. 6.
Both cases were assigned to Circuit Judge Patricia James. The Arkansas Times reported Oct. 21 that James had recused from the District 70 case. The news outlet noted that James lives in District 70.
For District 26, Sanders also set March 3 for the primary and June 9 for the special election, the latter being 279 days after Stubblefield’s passing. She earlier had set the date for Nov. 3, 2026, which was 436 days afterwards.
Stubblefield represented the district where Sanders seeks to locate a planned state prison near Charleston in Franklin County. He was one of the senators who voted against the prison, preventing Sanders and other proponents from gaining the necessary 75% support required for appropriations bills to pass.
Democratic Party of Arkansas Chairman Marcus Jones in an interview called District 70, the one with the latest vacancy, the “most competitive House district that didn’t flip” in the 2024 elections. Wing defeated Democrat Alex Holladay by 286 votes in a 51-49 race. Holladay has announced his candidacy this time in addition to Smith-Johnson.
Jones said the seat is winnable for Democrats.
“This is just an extension of that [earlier] decision to not have voices in the fiscal session that would be detracting from the governor’s agenda,” Jones said.
Sanders Director of Communications Sam Dubke explained the latest election date by saying in an email, “Following conversations with election officials, the Governor decided that lining up the District 70 special election with the District 26 special election is just common sense, saves taxpayer dollars, and ensures the election is free, fair, and secure.”