House runoff nearing in LR
2 Democrats in District 34 race
Two Little Rock Democrats who were separated by a mere 61 votes in a state House primary last month are competing in a runoff election Tuesday that will likely decide the successor to the late state Rep. John Walker.
Joy Springer — an office manager at Walker’s Little Rock law firm who pitches herself as “continuing the legacy” of Walker’s political and civil-rights career — led the first round of voting with about 42% of the ballots cast.
Nonprofit leader Ryan Davis, who finished about 8 percentage points back, said he has picked up the pace of his spending and voter outreach efforts in the runoff period.
Last Monday evening, the previously quiet race sparked headlines when Davis and state Rep. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, said they were conversing on the sidewalk when they were accosted by angry neighbors in a residential area near the Capitol where Davis’ campaign held a
fundraiser.
Both Davis and Flowers said they heard one neighbor — who demanded to know what they were doing in that area — shout at them to “drop dead,” and then they heard a gunshot.
The neighbor has denied firing a shot. Police are investigating. On Wednesday, both the Democratic Party of Arkansas and the Legislative Black Caucus issued statements charging that the white neighbors’ actions toward the black politicians were motivated by racial prejudice.
Springer, who is also black, declined to address the incident involving her opponent. In an interview Thursday, she said her campaign was well-positioned to earn a victory in the runoff.
“We’ve been running the campaign as we’ve done before,” Springer said. “I don’t see a need for changing things because it looks like what worked the first time around will work again.”
Early voting in the runoff began Tuesday, and 130 ballots were cast last week. As with the turnout in the special primary last month, turnout for the special election is likely to be very low.
The early voting site today is at the Pulaski County Regional Building, 501 W. Markham St., Little Rock. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Voting hours Tuesday are 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Davis, who heads the Children’s International nonprofit at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said he was stepping up door-knocking efforts in precincts carried by Springer. In the runoff period, Davis has also spent more than $2,000 on mail ads and campaign signs and he said his campaign was preparing to roll out radio ads in the final days.
“I just know that I feel like I’m getting a positive response,” Davis said.
In the meantime, Springer has launched her own dedicated campaign website.
The winner of Tuesday’s runoff will still have to run a campaign through March 3, the date of the special general election. The Democratic nominee will face independent candidate Roderick Talley.
That special general election will also occur on the same day that Davis, Springer and two other Democrats compete in the regularly scheduled primary election. The other two candidates, Lee Miller and H. “Otis” Tyler, were in last month’s special election. Each finished with less than 20% of the vote.
Before that round of voting, each of the four candidates vying in the Democratic primary expressed support for a return of local control to the Little Rock School District and cited criminal justice reforms atop their list of policy goals.
Springer, 63, has touted herself as Walker’s chosen successor, saying that the two talked about her running for the House of Representatives after he became term limited.
Walker, a civil-rights attorney who for decades represented black families in a federal desegregation lawsuit against school districts in Pulaski County, died in October at the age of 82.
Davis, on the other hand, has cast his campaign as one for a new voice in the district after Walker’s five terms. Comparing their respective styles, the 41-year-old Davis said last month, “We’re very different people.”
House District 34 is mostly south of Interstate 630, and stretches from the Chenal neighborhood in west Little Rock to the campus of Central High School close to downtown. The heavily Democratic district attracted no Republican candidates in either the special or regular elections.