First day of filing sees Thurston jump in Treasurer’s race, Democrat to challenge Crawford in CD1

The first day of candidate filing at the Arkansas State Capitol ended with 215 filings, including Republican Secretary of State John Thurston running for an open State Treasurer position and an unexpected Democrat filing for U.S. Congress in District 1.

Thurston, who previously announced he would seek the remainder of the term from the late Mark Lowery, was the first to file on Monday (Nov. 6). If he is elected, he will be eligible to serve 10 years – the remaining two years of Lowery’s term and two four-year terms. No other candidates filed for the position.

Rodney Govens, a 40-year year old Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran from Cabot, filed as a Democrat in the First Congressional District, the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro.

Other Congressional candidate filings included GOP incumbents French Hill, Bruce Westerman as well as Democratic newcomers Caitlin Draper of Fayetteville in the Third District and Marcus Jones of Little Rock in the Second District.

Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Barbara Webb filed for Chief Justice of the state’s high court in a race expected to be crowded with four announced candidates, including two other sitting justices.

There were five candidates who filed for U.S. President in Arkansas. They include incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden and Republicans Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy.

The rest of the filings centered on state legislative seats and judicial races.

All told, there were 89 Non-partisan judicial candidate filings, 84 Republicans, 38 Democrats, and one Independent.

You can access a full list of today’s filings here.