Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Virden takes lead in appeals court race
Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Bart Virden held a lead Tuesday over first-time political candidate Johnnie Copeland, based on early returns in the state’s only competitive appeals court race. Virden garnered about 54 percent of votes cast based on unofficial results l a te in the evening from most precincts.
Virden, 58, of Morrilton, is in the final year of his first term on the court. The 40- year- old Copeland is a private- practice attorney in Mountain Home and also works part time as a prosecutor and district judge.
“It’s obviously a lot closer than I would like it to be, but that’s the nature of elections,” Virden said as the results came in.
Copeland could not be immediately reached for comment.
The 18-county area covered by District 2, Position 1, of the Court of Appeals includes most of north-central Arkansas and the Ozarks, stretching down to cover Conway.
While more recent races in the district have gone on quietly and unopposed, this year the Washington, D.C.-based Republican State Leadership Committee spent $80,000 on ads attacking Virden and urging support of Copeland.
After the ads started airing, Copeland said she was “surprised” to see them, but didn’t denounce the content of the messages, which said, “Violent convicts pray for judges like Bart Virden.”
“Up until this week I felt generally good,” said Virden, referring to the effect of
the ads.
The attack ads dealt with the case of Edward Rogers, a North Little Rock man who was convicted in 2016 of the rape of three teenagers. Rogers’ conviction was overturned on appeal last year, with Virden writing the opinion.
The ad failed to mention that Virden was part of a 4-2 majority of appellate judges who reached the decision, or that Rogers remains in prison while prosecutors seek to retry the case.
Asked about the ad last week, the Pulaski County prosecutor in charge of Rogers’ case, Larry Jegley, called it “nonsense” and “totally false.” He added the judicial process includes occasional reversals.
In tax filings earlier this year, the Republican State Leadership Committee reported receiving a $100,000 donation from Walmart. The group has also run ads in this year’s Arkansas Supreme Court race.
Both Virden and Copeland were roughly on par with each other in terms of their campaign spending.
Boosted by $ 12,000 she lent to her campaign, Copeland reported spending $41,129, mostly on mailers and newspaper ads.
Virden received more donations than she did from Arkansas attorneys, and he was able to run TV, radio and newspaper ads. He spent $49,448, according to the most recent campaign-finance reports.
Elsewhere, Appellate Judge Robert Gladwin in District 3 was unopposed in his re-election bid.