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PAC, Lobbyist Donations Nearing $1M in Contested State Legislative Races

3 min read

(Update: An update has been made to this article. See the editor’s note at the end for details.)

Less than three weeks before Election Day, political action committees and lobbyists have already pumped more than three-quarters of a million dollars into contested state Senate and House races across the state.

This year’s mid-term election includes 42 contested races for seats in the Arkansas House of Representatives and Senate. Arkansas Business researched the financial disclosure forms of the candidates in each race to see which registered PACs, those registered or associated with PACs, and lobbyists had contributed to their campaigns. 

The overall totals do not include monetary donations in races for House of Representatives Districts 15, 51, 58, 80 and 95 because not all of the candidates’ financial disclosure reports were available on the Arkansas Secretary of State website. Donations made in uncontested races were excluded, as were donations made directly from county and state political party PACs in all races.

A review of the remaining 37 races — including four races for state Senate and 34 races for House of Representatives — revealed $888,608 in donations. Republican candidates outpaced Democrats in donations by more than $61,000. The numbers include filings through August, and six candidates with financial reports through September.

Democratic candidates received more than $413,000 in donations from PACs and lobbyists, while Republican candidates received more than $475,000. On average, each Democratic candidate received $11,486 from PACs and lobbyists, while every Republican received $12,839.

Top Beneficiaries Lean Republican

The 10 candidates who received the most donations from PACs and lobbyists accounted for 49.7 percent of all donations, and included six Republicans and four Democrats.

Sens. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs, and Jason Rapert, R-Conway, who are running for re-election in Senate Districts 14 and 35, received far and away more than other candidates. Through August, Sample received $95,750 and Rapert received $85,085.

Sample’s total does not include donations made during the third quarter of 2013, for which the financial disclosure form filed with the Arkansas Secretary of State does not list individual donors.

A distant third was Sen. Robert Thompson, D-Paragould, who is running for re-election in Senate District 20, and received $47,250 in PAC and lobbyist donations.

House District 35 candidate Stacy Hurst, R-Little Rock, and state Reps. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, and Mary Broadaway, D-Paragould, also received more than $30,000 in donations. 

Hurst was the only non-incumbent in the top 10, and Broadaway was the only with financial reports available through September.

Wal-Mart, Tyson, Stephens Among Special Interest Donors

It was no surprise to see several large companies and corporations littered throughout the candidates’ financial disclosure forms, including several with Arkansas connections.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville, Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale and Stephens Inc. of Little Rock, and its entities, were among some of the high-profile donors. But they were all outpaced by the Arkansas Health Care Association, the statewide association of nursing homes, which funneled in $83,000 through its various PACs. (About three-quarters of nursing home patients in Arkansas are paid for by Medicaid, the joint federal-state insurance program.)

The Arkansas Realtors Association also injected $40,900 into various candidates’ campaigns through its PAC.

Entities tied to Stephens Inc. donated more than $30,000, slightly more than Wal-Mart ($17,000) and Tyson ($8,500) put together.

Jim Walton, chairman and CEO of Arvest Bank Group Inc. and a member of the Wal-Mart board of directors, donated $10,500 to various campaigns.

Southland Park Gaming & Racing and Wholesale Beer Distributors of Arkansas were also among the donors.

Early voting begins Monday and continues until Election Day on Nov. 4.

(Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article mistakenly omitted candidates in the race for Senate District 14. The article has now been updated to include totals from that race. Those totals put Bill Sample at the top of the list for candidates receiving PAC and lobbyist dollars, and gave Republicans an edge in receiving PAC and lobbyist dollars, which is now reflected in the first chart.)

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