Field set for March elections

Two candidates will run in the Dec. 10 Republican primary for the vacant District 22 House seat Mickey Gates was expelled from last month.

District 12 Justice of the Peace Richard McGrew and Jessieville School Board member Jack Wells will vie to represent the Republican Party in the March 3 special election to serve the final year of Gates’ third term. Hot Springs Village

Libertarian Judy Bowers also filed prior to Tuesday’s deadline. In addition to the special election, all three filed to run in the Nov. 3 general election.

Village Republican Richard Midkiff filed Tuesday for the general election. He’ll join McGrew and Wells in the March 3 party primary. The winner of the general election will represent east Garland and north Saline counties during the House’s 2021-22 term.

Hot Springs Republican Lorna

Nobles filed for the District 26 seat her daughter, Rep. Laurie Rushing, is leaving at the end of next year. Malvern Republican Rick McClure also filed to represent the Diamondhead area of Garland County and north Hot Spring County in the House. Bismarck Democrat Joyce Schimenti also filed for District 26.

Incumbent Republicans Bruce Cozart, District 24, and Les War

ren, District 25, drew no opposition.

The March 3 nonpartisan general election will feature three contested judicial races in Garland County. Ralph Ohm, the county’s Division 2 district judge, and Shane Ethridge will run for the Division 1 circuit judge seat John Homer Wright is leaving at the end of next year. Half of the county’s felony criminal cases are assigned to Division 1.

Division 2 Circuit Judge Wade Naramore will run for a second term against Brian Johnson and Cecilia Dyer. Dyer advanced to a runoff against Naramore in 2014 but lost by more than five percentage points. Most of the county’s juvenile cases are assigned to Division 2.

Division 3 Circuit Judge Lynn Williams and Division 4 Circuit Judge Marcia Hearnsberger both filed for reelection and drew no opposition.

Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Meredith Switzer and Mark Fraiser filed for the Division 2 district judge seat Ohm is vacating at the end of next year. The governor appointed Switzer in 2017 to serve part of her father David Switzer’s term as Division 1 district judge after his death in late 2016. She was appointed to the Court of Appeals when her district court appointment expired at the end of 2018. Fraiser is an attorney in the Garland County public defender’s office.

Division 1 District Judge Joe Graham drew no opposition. He was elected in 2018 to serve the final two years of David Switzer’s term.

The county’s district judges are part-time jurists paid by the county and city of Hot Springs. They’ll become state judges presiding over the newly formed District 41 in 2021 and receive a state salary of $150,761. The Independent Citizens Commission raised circuit judge salaries to $172,298.

Early voting for the March 3 primaries and nonpartisan election begins Feb. 18.