Voters in southeast Arkansas are choosing the Republican nominee Tuesday to succeed a lawmaker who stepped down to work in the attorney general’s office.
Republicans Missy Wardlaw of Hermitage and Harrell Wilson of Rison are both looking to fill the Senate District 1 seat vacated by former state Sen. Ben Gilmore. The district in southeast Arkansas is composed of Ashley, Bradley, Chicot and Cleveland counties, as well as parts of Drew, Grant, Jefferson and Lincoln counties.
Polls will open at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7:30 p.m. Early voting for the primary began Aug. 11. Registered Democrats are unable to vote in the GOP primary, under a party rule adopted in 2025.
The winner of the special primary will face Democratic nominee Tomeka Butler, mayor of Eudora, in Nov. 3’s general election. The winner will serve until the end of Gilmore’s term in 2029.
With the seat vacant, Republicans hold a 28-6 supermajority in the Senate. Gilmore won his 2024 reelection bid with more than 77% of the vote, beating Libertarian Asher Williams.
The longtime president of Cleveland County’s school board, Wilson entered the race with endorsements from Gilmore and the state’s top elected Republicans, including Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. He said working at his family’s sawmill business and his engagement in the community prepared him for public office.
“It gives me a different point of view than most people because of running that business,” he said. “I have always participated in community activities throughout Cleveland County to try to build up the local community, make it stronger.”
When asked what his specific policy priorities would be, Wilson noted that his general priorities were faith, family and farming, as well as cutting taxes. He also pledged to continue “defending the life of the unborn,” and fighting for farmers.
Wardlaw, a veterans healthcare coordinator, is the wife of term-limited Republican Rep. Jeff Wardlaw. She ran for her husband’s House District 94 earlier this year but was defeated in the primary.
She counted the listening skills she said she cultivated through her work as one of her qualifications for the Senate seat.
“I’ve worked in healthcare for 20-plus years, and I get to sit down and visit with a lot of people. There’s just a lot of places where people could benefit from having help or having someone to call, and I want to be that help,” Wardlaw said.
Wardlaw said she didn’t have a single top policy priority. But she cited economic development and rural healthcare as two areas she was passionate about, and said she supported Medicaid expansion with work requirements.
She said the Legislature should create new incentives for the forestry industry.
“Researching and learning different ways to utilize pulp, and letting our state set up incentives to try and attract those businesses to come here, so we can build jobs back in that industry,” Wardlaw said.
Both Republicans also favored cutting taxes if it was possible to do so responsibly, and allowing local governments to regulate or prohibit data centers.
The candidates appeared to diverge on whether changes were needed to the LEARNS Act of 2023, which overhauled parts of Arkansas’ public education system and established a universal school voucher program.
Wilson, who has been on Cleveland County’s school board since 2012, said he’s seen the benefits of LEARNS in his own school district through high test scores.
“LEARNS is what we have in place, and we see the benefits of some of that right now,” Wilson said. “One of our school districts within this (Senate) district, Crossett, has made great strides in their scores and in their reading.”
To support any changes to LEARNS, he said, it would need to “benefit the kids.”
Wardlaw said she was fine with school choice and that she doesn’t see the voucher program, also known as Education Freedom Accounts, going away any time soon. At the same time, she said, the program needs more accountability — something she said would be her primary focus where the LEARNS Act is concerned if she is elected.
“I just feel that if you’re going to use tax dollars and accept them, then you should have one standardized test that everybody takes, so you can actually judge where the strengths and weaknesses are in all the (educational) settings,” Wardlaw said.
She doesn’t think the voucher program is a bad idea, but its universal eligibility doesn’t help public education, Wardlaw added, nor was it “a smart thing” financially. When eligibility for the program was limited to students who attended poorly-performing public schools, she said, “the spending of (the voucher program) was a little more controlled.”
“I don’t think it should be a free for all for any kid to go to any school they want, and there would be no restrictions,” Wardlaw said.
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