Supreme Court seat goes to Webb
Rival Welch comes up short
Barbara Webb, an administrative law judge who had the support of top Republicans across Arkansas, defeated Pulaski County Circuit Judge Morgan “Chip” Welch on Tuesday to win a seat on the nonpartisan Arkansas Supreme Court.
The unofficial returns were:
Webb ....................... 244,617
Welch ...................... 208,047
Webb, a former elected prosecutor who also filled appointments to judgeships in Saline County and on the Workers’ Compensation Commission, had pointed to her diversity of legal experience to contrast herself with Welch, a judge in the state’s larg- est county.
Her vic- tory ensures that women will continue to hold a majority of the seats on the Supreme
Court. But Webb’s ties to party politics — her husband is chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas — earned her sustained criticism during the campaign from Welch, who touted himself as a neutral judge. In the final weeks, Webb slung the partisan label back at Welch, raising his history of voting for and supporting Democrats, all while she benefited from an influx of money from an out-of-state Republican organization.
“The only candidate in the race that mentioned partisan politics was, the first day, my opponent,” Webb said Tuesday night. “I think people heard our message.”
Welch conceded shortly
after 10:15 p.m. Tuesday.
Webb will join the seven-member Supreme Court in January 2021, replacing Justice Josephine “Jo” Hart, who is retiring from Position 4. There are four women on the court.
Webb raised more money than Welch over the course of the campaign, in part because of the support of more than a dozen county GOP organizations along with political action committees. Welch received more than 90 percent of his funds from individuals, especially attorneys, according to campaign finance reports.
Neither candidate’s fundraising, however, competed with the late injection of at least $225,000 by the Republican State Leadership Committee’s Judicial Fairness Initiative to purchase advertising in support of Webb.
“I don’t think it productive to engage in post-mortem evaluations of this race, except to say I remain dedicated to the ideal of a nonpartisan judiciary,” Welch said in a text message Tuesday night.
He added that he would continue serving the remaining five years in his term on the 6th Judicial Circuit.
Without party labels next to their names on the ballots, both campaigns sought other types of messaging to attract primary voters.
Welch — who had the benefit of appearing on the ballot with the title “judge” — painted Webb as a partisan with limited judicial experience. He also trumpeted his own efforts to speak at both GOP and Democratic events.
One Welch voter, 53-yearold nurse Colleen Tucker, said she had read news reports about campaign fundraising to get a feel for the nonpartisan candidates before going to vote in the Democratic primary Tuesday afternoon.
“She had so much Republican money backing her,” Tucker said of Webb.
Meanwhile, Webb’s campaign leaned into her Republican ties.
One mailer sent to voters from Webb’s campaign featured the image of the state’s Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, who had appointed Webb to fill a vacancy on the Saline County Circuit Court in 2018. Included was a quote from the governor praising Webb, though he had not endorsed any candidate in the race.
Advertising purchased by local Republican groups and the RSLC touted her as the “conservative” choice for the court.
“Wasn’t she the one Gov. Hutchinson had appointed?” was what Renee Pigg, a 61-year-old retired teacher and Republican voter, recalled of the race after casting her ballot for Webb in Little Rock on Tuesday. “I really respect him.”
For voters who said they had not been reached by either campaign, the choice often appeared to come at the last minute.
“I might try to read a little bit on my phone before I get in,” said Zach Hunter, a 34-year-old music producer, as he stood in line to vote for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary during early voting Monday.
Several other Democratic voters who spoke to a reporter about their choice in the Supreme Court race said they had supported Webb along with a number of other women on the ballot.
Webb said she believed her campaign had significant support from Democrats, though she said it was too early to tell Tuesday night what share of her voters had cast their ballots in the Democratic Primary.
Webb won GOP strongholds in Northwest Arkansas and Saline County, where she lives. She also carried a number of areas in the Arkansas Delta that typically vote Democratic, such as Jefferson County.
Welch won Pulaski County, the largest county in the state and home to the most Democrats, as well as about a third of counties around the state, according to early returns.