| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
County results Pryor: 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% | |||||||||||||||||
|
Elections in Arkansas |
---|
The 2008 United States Senate election in Arkansas was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Senator Mark Pryor ran for a second term. No Republican filed to challenge him, and his only opponent was Green Party candidate Rebekah Kennedy. Pryor won re-election with almost 80% of the vote, despite Republican John McCain winning the state by nearly 20 points in the concurrent presidential election.
Kennedy received the highest ever vote share of any Green Party candidate running for U.S. Senate, [1] and the highest for a third party Senate candidate in Arkansas until her record was surpassed by Libertarian candidate Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. in 2020.
As of 2023 [update] , this was the last time Democrats won a statewide federal election in Arkansas.
On March 10, the state Republican Party announced it has no plans to field a candidate against Pryor. The only Republican to express interest in the race, health care executive Tom Formicola, decided not to run the weekend before filing began. Formicola lost the GOP primaries for the Senate in 2004 and the United States House of Representatives in 2006. As a result, Pryor was the only Senator in 2008 to face no major-party opposition in a reelection bid. [2]
There had been speculation that former Governor Mike Huckabee would run against Pryor if his presidential bid were unsuccessful, but on March 8, Huckabee said he would not contest the race. [3]
Pryor's sole challenger was Green Party nominee Rebekah Kennedy, who entered the race in April 2007. [4] Kennedy received 206,504 votes (20.54%). [5] This is the highest percentage of the vote for any Green Party candidate running for U.S. Senate ever, and her 206,504 votes is the second most total votes received by a Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate after Medea Susan Benjamin's 326,828 votes in the 2000 California Senate race. [1] Kennedy's campaign, in addition to being record breaking for the Green Party, was also the strongest showing of any independent or third-party candidate running for the U.S. Senate in 2008.
Source | Ranking | As of |
---|---|---|
The Cook Political Report [6] | Safe D | October 23, 2008 |
CQ Politics [7] | Safe D | October 31, 2008 |
Rothenberg Political Report [8] | Safe D | November 2, 2008 |
Real Clear Politics [9] | Safe D | November 4, 2008 |
Pryor was polled at 90% in a poll without a challenger in March. [10]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Mark Pryor (incumbent) | 804,678 | 79.53% | |
Green | Rebekah Kennedy | 207,076 | 20.47% | |
Total votes | 1,011,754 | 100.00% | ||
Democratic hold | ||||
Mark Lunsford Pryor is an American attorney, politician and lobbyist who served as a United States Senator from Arkansas from 2003 to 2015. He previously served as Attorney General of Arkansas from 1999 to 2003 and in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1991 to 1995. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
The 2008 United States Senate elections were held on November 4, 2008, with 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested. Thirty-three seats were up for regular elections; the winners were eligible to serve six-year terms from January 3, 2009, to January 3, 2015, as members of Class 2. There were also two special elections, the winners of those seats would finish the terms that ended on January 3, 2013. The presidential election, which was won by Democrat Barack Obama, elections for all House of Representatives seats; elections for several gubernatorial elections; and many state and local elections occurred on the same date.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Tennessee was held on November 4, 2008, to elect a member of the U.S. Senate from the State of Tennessee. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander won re-election to a second term.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Colorado was held November 4, 2008. The primary elections were held August 12, 2008. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Wayne Allard decided to retire instead of seeking a third term. Democratic nominee Mark Udall won the open seat, making this the first time a Democrat won this seat since 1972, and that Democrats held both Senate seats since 1979.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Oregon was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Gordon H. Smith sought reelection to a third term. Smith was the only Republican Senator from the West Coast and the only Republican holding statewide office in Oregon. He was opposed by Democrat Jeff Merkley, the Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, and David Brownlow of the Constitution Party of Oregon. Merkley won by a narrow margin, with Smith not conceding until two days after the election. Merkley became the first Democrat to win this seat since 1960. And since Smith was the only Republican holding statewide office in Oregon at the time, this was the first time since 1860 that no Republicans won or held statewide office in Oregon. Jeff Merkley's inauguration marked the first time since 1967 that Democrats held both of Oregon's United States Senate seats.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Louisiana was held on November 4, 2008. This was the first time since the 1970s that Louisiana used primaries for federal races. Incumbent Senator Mary Landrieu won reelection to a third term, defeating John Kennedy. Despite being forecast as one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats during 2008, Landrieu won a comfortable victory of 6.4 percentage points. As of 2023, this was the last time that Democrats won a Louisiana U.S. Senate election.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Montana was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Senator Max Baucus won re-election to a sixth term in a landslide, winning more than 70% of the vote and carrying every county in the state, despite Republican John McCain's narrow victory in the state in the concurrent presidential election. Baucus later resigned his seat on February 6, 2014 after the Senate confirmed him to be U.S. Ambassador to China, having already announced his intention to retire at the end of term on April 23, 2013. As of 2024, this is the last time Democrats won the Class 2 Senate seat in Montana.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Georgia took place on November 4, 2008. The run off election took place on December 2, 2008. Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss, first elected in 2002, sought re-election to his position as a United States Senator from Georgia. He was challenged by Democratic nominee Jim Martin and Libertarian nominee Allen Buckley. After a runoff election on December 2, Chambliss was elected.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Dick Durbin sought a third term in office and faced minimal opposition from Republican Steve Sauerberg. As expected, Durbin overwhelmingly won re-election. On the same night, fellow Democratic Senator Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, defeating Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Michigan was held on November 4, 2008 Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Carl Levin won reelection to a sixth and final term.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Alabama was held on November 4, 2008, to elect one of Alabama's members to the United States Senate. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions won re-election to a third term.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator and former President pro tempore Ted Stevens ran for re-election for an eighth term in the United States Senate. It was one of the ten Senate races that U.S. Senator John Ensign of Nevada, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, predicted as being most competitive. The primaries were held on August 26, 2008. Stevens was challenged by Democratic candidate Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage and son of former U.S. Representative Nick Begich.
The 2008 United States House of Representatives elections in Arkansas were held on November 4, 2008 to determine who will represent the state of Arkansas in the United States House of Representatives. Arkansas has four seats in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected will serve in the 111th Congress from January 4, 2009 until January 3, 2011. The election coincides with the 2008 presidential election.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held on November 4, 2008. The seat was regularly scheduled for election, unlike the special election taking place on the same day. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Thad Cochran won re-election to a sixth term.
The 2010 United States Senate election in Arkansas took place on November 2, 2010 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states, as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. State voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2010 United States Senate election in Oklahoma was held on November 2, 2010. Incumbent Republican Senator Tom Coburn won re-election to a second term.
The 2010 Arkansas gubernatorial election took place on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Incumbent Democratic Governor Mike Beebe ran for re-election, and faced former State Senator Jim Keet, whom he defeated in a landslide to win a second and final term as governor, despite the year being a Republican midterm wave year and Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln being unseated by a 21-point margin on the same ballot. Beebe's vote percentage and margin of victory was the highest of any Democratic gubernatorial candidate in the country that year.
The 1996 United States Senate election in Arkansas was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator David Pryor decided to retire. Republican Tim Hutchinson won the open seat, becoming the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate seat in Arkansas since Reconstruction in 1872 and the first to ever be popularly elected in the state. He was the first to win this seat since 1870.
The 2014 United States Senate election in Arkansas was held on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Arkansas, concurrently with the election of the Governor of Arkansas, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.