2018 Arkansas Senate election

2018 Arkansas Senate election

← 2016 November 6, 2018 2020  →
18 out of 35 seats in the Arkansas Senate 18 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	50.38%
Majority party Minority party   Leader Jonathan Dismang Keith Ingram Party Republican Democratic Leader since January 15, 2015 January 15, 2013 Leader's seat District 28 District 24 Last election 26 9 Seats after 26 9 Seat change
President Pro Tempore before election Jonathan Dismang Republican Elected President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren Republican

The 2018 Arkansas Senate election was held on November 6, 2018, to determine which party would control the Arkansas Senate for the following two years in the 92nd Arkansas General Assembly. Eighteen out of 35 seats in the Arkansas Senate were up for election and the primary occurred on May 22, 2018. Prior to the election, 26 seats were held by Republicans and 9 seats were held by Democrats. The general election saw neither party gain nor lose any seats, meaning that Republicans retained their majority in the State Senate. ^{[1] [2]}

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Governing [3]	Safe R	October 8, 2018

Retirements

Democrats

1. District 4: Uvalde Lindsey retired.

Republicans

1. District 15: David J. Sanders retired.
2. District 33: Jeremy Young Hutchinson resigned on August 31, 2018, after being indicted by a federal grand jury on 12 wire and tax fraud charges.

Defeated incumbents

In primary

Republicans

1. District 5: Bryan King lost renomination to Bob Ballinger.
2. District 8: Frank Glidewell lost renomination to Mathew Pitsch.

Results

District 3

District 3 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Cecile Bledsoe (incumbent)	14,598	61.94%
	Democratic	Jon Comstock	8,968	38.06%
Total votes			23,566	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 4

District 4 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Greg Leding	18,416	61.49%
	Republican	Dawn Clemence	11,533	38.51%
Total votes			29,949	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 5

District 5 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bob Ballinger	18,288	67.61%
	Democratic	Jim Wallace	7,872	29.11%
	Libertarian	Lee Evans	887	3.28%
Total votes			27,047	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 6

District 6 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Gary Stubblefield (incumbent)		100.0%
Total votes				100.0%
	Republican hold

District 8

District 8 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mathew Pitsch	18,365	76.32%
	Libertarian	William Whitfield Hyman	5,698	23.68%
Total votes			24,063	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 9

District 9 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Terry Rice (incumbent)		100.0%
Total votes				100.0%
	Republican hold

District 10

District 10 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Larry Teague (incumbent)	13,266	62.41%
	Libertarian	Dawn Clemence	7,989	37.59%
Total votes			21,255	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 14

District 14 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bill Sample (incumbent)	21,913	69.68%
	Democratic	Michael Colgrove	9,536	30.32%
Total votes			31,449	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 15

District 15 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mark Johnson		100.0%
Total votes				100.0%
	Republican hold

District 17

District 17 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Flippo (incumbent)	21,156	79.90%
	Libertarian	Kevin Vornheder	5,321	20.10%
Total votes			26,477	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 18

District 18 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Missy Irvin (incumbent)		100.0%
Total votes				100.0%
	Republican hold

District 19

District 19 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	James Sturch	18,563	72.86%
	Democratic	Susi Epperson	6,914	27.14%
Total votes			25,477	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 20

District 20 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Blake Johnson (incumbent)		100.0%
Total votes				100.0%
	Republican hold

District 24

District 24 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Keith Ingram (incumbent)		100.0%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 30

District 30 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Linda Chesterfield (incumbent)		100.0%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 31

District 31 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joyce Elliott (incumbent)		100.0%
Total votes				100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 33

District 33 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kim Hammer	23,014	68.35%
	Democratic	Melissa Fults	10,657	31.65%
Total votes			33,671	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 35

District 35 election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jason Rapert (incumbent)	15,168	55.14%
	Democratic	Maureen Skinner	12,339	44.86%
Total votes			27,507	100.0%
	Republican hold

References

1. "Arkansas State Senate elections, 2018". ballotpedia.org. Retrieved December 11, 2025.
2. "ARKANSAS ELECTION NIGHT REPORTING". totalresults.com. November 6, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2025.
3. Jacobson, Louis (October 8, 2018). "A Month Before Election Day, Democrats Poised for Legislative Gains". Governing. Retrieved December 11, 2025.