A special election was made necessary in Senate District 26 by the death of Republican incumbent Gary Stubblefield on September 2, 2025. The general election will take place on March 3, 2026. Partisan primaries will be held on January 6 with a runoff election on February 3 if necessary. Political party candidates had until November 12, 2025 to file to run for the primary, and independents have until November 26, 2025 to file to run in the general election.[1]
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders had originally planned to hold the special election alongside the general election in November 2026, 427 days after Stubblefield's death. Arkansas state law states that state legislative special elections must take within 150 days of the vacancy, unless the 150-day time frame is "impracticable or unduly burdensome". The original election date would have left the District 26 seat empty throughout the 2026 fiscal session. The decision received bipartisan pushback, with Republican primary candidates Brad Simon, Ted Tritt, and the chair of the Arkansas Democratic Party all condemning the date.[2]
It was later revised to take place on June 9, 280 days after the vacancy. This date still far exceeded the 150-day legal deadline by which the election needed to be held, under the June schedule a new member would still not be sworn in before the end of the 2026 fiscal session. Of the 17 special elections called since 2011 to fill vacancies in the state legislature, only eight have been held within that 150-day window, with the other eight only exceeding it by about a month. Both the 427-day and 280-day wait to till Stubblefield's vacancy was longer than any other special election called since 2011, with the 280-day wait being 91 days longer than the previous longest date.
After the election date was moved to June 9, 2026, Franklin County resident Colt Shelby filed a lawsuit stating the election date violated state law.[3] On October 22, 2025, 6th Circuit Court Judge Patti James ruled in Shelby's favor and ordered an earlier election date. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Arkansas Secretary of StateCole Jester attempted to appeal the decision to the Arkansas Supreme Court, but the Court denied Sanders' and Jester's stay, leaving the lower court's ruling standing.[4]
On November 16, Sanders complied with the court order and moved the election dates to March 3, 2026. Sanders remained defiant, repeatedly calling the decision an "unlawful order" in her proclamation moving the election dates.
A special election was made necessary in Senate District 26 by the resignation of Republican incumbent Carlton Wing on September 30, 2025, to become executive director of Arkansas PBS. The general election will take place on March 3, 2026. Partisan primaries will be held on January 6 with a runoff election on February 3 if necessary. Political party candidates had until November 12, 2025 to file to run for the primary, and independents have until November 26, 2025 to file to run in the general election.
Similarly to the Senate District 26 election, the special election was scheduled to take place after the 2026 fiscal session of the Legislature. Its lawsuits were consolidated with the SD 26 case, and the elections were ordered to be moved earlier in the year.
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