Democrat going for it, joins state Senate race

Buoyed by his party’s victory in the U.S. Senate special election in Alabama, Democrat Steven McNeely of Jacksonville filed Wednesday for a vacant legislative seat that has been Republican since reapportionment.

McNeely, a workers’ compensation attorney, joins Cabot Republicans Jim Coy and Ricky Hill in seeking to fill the remaining term of the state Senate District 29 seat that became vacant with last month’s resignation of Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot. Williams resigned to become President Donald Trump’s federal representative to the Southern Energy States Board. District 29 includes parts of Faulkner, Lonoke, Pulaski and White counties.

Coy is vice president of sales for Infutor Data Solutions based in Oakbrook, Ill. Hill is executive vice president for Bank of the Ozarks. The Republicans will vie in a Feb. 13 special primary election. The winner will take on McNeely in a May 22 special election.

In addition to Senate District 29, there are vacancies in state Senate District 16 and state House District 83. They also have special elections on the same dates as the District 29 race. Wednesday was the last day for candidates to file for these seats.

McNeely said he “was still on the fence” about running until Tuesday night’s U.S. Senate election in Alabama. He said Democratic candidate Doug Jones’ defeat of Republican Roy Moore “was the push I needed” to run.

“I have a little more faith in the American people now,” McNeely said in an interview in the secretary of state’s office as he filed his paperwork.

Judging from voting trends, District 29 is the state’s most Republican Senate district, said state Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb. No Democrat has run for the seat since the state Board of Apportionment created its boundaries as part of redistricting in 2011.

But McNeely said, “I think I have a prayer in a ‘purple’ district like 29.

“I think the American people are a little tired of this division, you got to be one extreme or the other. You can be hybrid. I am retired military, so I don’t got no problem with guns. I own guns,” he said.

In 2012, McNeely lost a bid for the House District 40 seat to North Little Rock Republican Doug House, who won by a 65 percent to 35 percent margin. That year, Republicans gained majority control of the Arkansas Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction.

Coy and Hill acknowledged Wednesday that there’s always a chance that a Democrat could win the District 29 seat.

Hill said voters in Alabama “spoke with all the negative information that came out about Roy Moore.” Moore was accused recently of having inappropriate relationships with teenage girls years ago.

Coy said District 29 is “one of the reddest districts in the country,” and it’s difficult to run as a Democrat in the district, “even in light of the Roy Moore situation.” Hill noted that the seat is in a “real red district.”

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said, “The lesson from Alabama is that elections are still defined by the candidates and Roy Moore was a flawed candidate, and so Alabama decided it.

“I think if you look at the races in Arkansas, it is about local politics. It’s about state issues. I know that should be the focus of the candidates running next year,” said Hutchinson, who will be seeking his second four-year term as governor.

“In reference to Alabama, the tipping point was not what was happening nationally. But the tipping point was when Sen. [Richard] Shelby, days before the election, said, ‘Alabama can do better than Roy Moore,’ and that is what I believe shifted the momentum in that race,” Hutchinson said. Shelby, a Republican, is the senior U.S. senator from Alabama.

“I certainly feel that Roy Moore was flawed and glad he is not in the U.S. Senate. Our races in Arkansas will be defined differently, and I’m really pleased with … both candidates on the Republican side [in Senate District 29],” said Hutchinson.