LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The winner of Arkansas’ race for state Supreme Court chief justice won’t change its conservative majority and it hasn’t drawn the heavy spending of Republican groups that have targeted past campaigns. But the outcome still will make history.
Justices Karen Baker and Rhonda Wood are running to replace outgoing Chief Justice Dan Kemp in this year’s nonpartisan runoff. Baker and Wood were the top two finishers in a four-person race for the court in March, but neither garnered the majority necessary to win the race outright.
Arkansas’ court is technically nonpartisan, but Republican-backed justices hold a 4-3 majority on the court. That majority is set to expand to 5-2, no matter who wins the race, with GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders slated to fill two vacancies on the court next year.
Baker or Wood will become the first woman elected chief justice in the state. Betty Dickey was appointed to serve as the court’s chief justice in 2003.
