At county level, Democrats still lead big, but Republicans have narrowed gap

In the past six years, Republicans have gained control of all six of Arkansas’ congressional seats, all seven statewide constitutional officers and two-thirds of the state Legislature, but Democrats still control the bulk of the state’s elected county offices.

According to numbers supplied by the Association of Arkansas Counties, Democrats as of 2014 and 2015 controlled about 954 of the approximately 1,380 county offices. Those included 53 of the state’s 75 county judges, 61 sheriffs, 54 county clerks, 57 county circuit clerks, 65 collectors, 57 treasurers, 58 assessors, 61 coroners, and about 488 of the approximately 770 justice of the peace positions. About 245 justices of the peace were Republicans and 37 were independents.

According to the Association’s numbers, Republicans are clearly the dominant party in 15 counties: Baxter, Benton, Boone, Cleburne, Faulkner, Garland, Greene, Lonoke, Newton, Pope, Saline, Searcy, Sebastian, Washington and White. Republicans hold every office in Baxter and Benton Counties, all but one justice of the peace slot in Saline County, and all but three JP slots in White County. In Sebastian County, only the sheriff and four justices of the peace are Democrats.

Meanwhile, Democrats held every position or all known or nonappointed positions in Arkansas, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark, Clay, Conway, Dallas, Howard, Lee, Lincoln, Little River, Phillips, St. Francis, and Woodruff Counties. Democrats occupied all but one position in Hempstead (the county judge), Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Mississippi, Ouachita, Perry, and Poinsett (the county clerk) Counties.

Doyle Webb, Republican Party of Arkansas chairman, said those numbers don’t reflect about 20-25 officials who have switched parties within the past year. The Association of Arkansas Counties’ numbers show Democrats with a 6-3 majority on the Bradley County Quorum Court, but Republicans now have a majority because of those switchers, Webb said.

Moreover, Republicans are poised for pickups in Bradley County and Howard County, which are currently led by Democratic county judges but where Republican nominees are running unopposed.

Webb said Republicans have gone from having 11% of the approximately 1,500 partisan offices at the county level and above in 2010 to 35% today, and those numbers will increase after Tuesday’s elections. He said the party initially focused on state and legislative races because those are statewide policymaking positions and because those positions are easier to recruit. In the past two years, the party has been focusing on county level organizations.

“It’s more difficult for those offices to change over time because they’re more local. People are satisfied with the service or JP, but we see those changing now as the state has begun changing it’s partisan relationships,” he said.

He said he expects Republicans to hold more than 40% of county level offices after Tuesday, but, “I don’t know that we get to 50% yet at the county levels.”

H.L. Moody, Democratic Party of Arkansas communications director, said the areas where Democrats lead in county offices coincide with strong party organizations in those counties.

He said the DPA has been adding resources to its county structures. He said county candidates pay their filing fees to the county parties, which supports them.

“Another thing, I suppose, is that it’s easier for Democrats to run at the county level because a lot of the most divisive issues don’t really trickle down to the county level,” he said. “Those folks get to talk about clean drinking water and roads and infrastructure and things like that, which don’t tend to get too testy.”

He said he expects the party to maintain its lead Tuesday.

“In Pulaski County, for instance, there are only two competitive races, and they’re district level,” he said. “It’s not even a countywide race, and then in Washington County they’ve got a pretty lively contest up there for county judge, but I think the rest of them are going to be pretty quiet little contests, and I think Democrats are going to win.”