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Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders officially declared state Senate District 26 a vacant seat in the Legislature, paving the way for a special election to succeed Sen. Gary Stubblefield, who died earlier this month.
Sanders contacted Republican Party of Arkansas Chairman Joseph Wood and Democratic Party of Arkansas Chairman Col. Marcus Jones to certify the vacancy on Monday, according to a news release from Sanders’ office.
Each party must notify Sanders or her chief legal counsel, Cortney Kennedy, within 10 days whether they plan to hold a primary election or a convention of delegates in order to choose their candidate for the special election, according to the news release.
Stubblefield, a Republican from Branch, died Sept. 2 at the age of 74. He had served a dozen years in the Senate and previously four years in the House of Representatives. He lay in state at the Capitol on Thursday, and his funeral and burial occurred Saturday in Charleston.
Senate District 26 includes parts of Franklin, Johnson, Logan and Sebastian counties. Stubblefield won reelection last year to a term that ends in 2029.
The most recent special election for the Arkansas Legislature was in February 2022 when Republican Colby Fulfer narrowly defeated Democrat Lisa Parks to represent a portion of Northwest Arkansas. Both parties held primary elections before the general election.
Fulfer succeeded Sen. Lance Eads, R-Springdale, who resigned in October 2021 to take a position with a consulting firm. Fulfer left the Senate at the end of Eads’ term in 2023.
Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. This article was published with permission from the Arkansas Advocate. Contact Editor Andrew DeMillo for questions: [email protected]. Follow Arkansas Advocate on Facebook and Twitter.
