French Hill-Chris Jones race too close to call, other Arkansas Republicans have cake walk

Even if much of the country was kicking Republicans to the curb, they were mostly safe on Tuesday night at the Republican election watch party, where Democrats were described as radical liberal leftists and defeating them was God’s work.

Mostly safe, because while Gov. Sarah Sanders, Lt. Gov. Leslie Rutledge and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton all won reelection comfortably, Congressman French Hill never did show his face, apparently waiting for his race against his Democratic opponent Chris Jones to be called.

Hill waited so late that almost everyone had cleared out of the North Little Rock Event Center except a handful of media who had been told he would be out shortly.

At 11:30 p.m. an aide came out shaking his head. “It’s not happening,” he said. 

Is he not coming out because the race hasn’t been called? he was asked.

“I can’t confirm or deny that, but you can figure it out,” the man said.

The biggest applause of the night came when Sanders, accompanied by husband Bryan and their three children, stepped onto the stage. She thanked her family and staff, saying she had the “best team of any governor in the country.” She also said she was proud to be the first woman to be elected – and now reelected – as governor of Arkansas. But her speech, like that of Rutledge’s that would come a few minutes later, turned deeply religious as she said she was not defined by her gender, her conservative credentials, being a mother or a wife.

“My identity is in Christ,” she said, adding that only through Christ could someone find “true fulfillment.”

“Christ and Christ alone can save us,” she said, adding a few sentences later that she would not “back down to the radical left.”

“That’s not going to happen on my watch,” she said.

When she exited the stage, she paused for several minutes, reaching across a barricade to hug friends and supporters.

Rutledge, who won easily against Libertarian candidate Michael Kalagias, thanked her family and staff but quickly characterized those who would oppose Republicans in the darkest terms.

“Right here in Arkansas, it’s not red versus blue,” she said. “It’s capitalism versus communism. It’s sanity versus insanity. It’s good versus evil. This

victory is God’s. All the glory belongs to him. The Lord’s purpose prevails, and tonight his purpose prevailed in Arkansas.”

As she concluded, she said “radical liberals on the left” wanted to destroy the U.S Senate, the presidency and the Supreme Court, asking the standing-room-only crowd after each claim, “Is that what Arkansas wants to do?” “NO!” roared the crowd in response.

Cotton, accompanied by his wife Anna and two sons, spent little time at the podium, thanking his staff and campaign organizers who likely played a part in his decision not to debate his chief opponent, Democrat Hallie Shoffner. Like Sanders and Rutledge, Cotton intoned God, saying it was God who granted Americans their rights and not the Constitution because the authors had been divinely inspired when they crafted it.

Not one of the Republicans uttered the name of their opponent in their acceptance speeches.

The Event Center seemed to be the perfect environment for a big election watch party with hundreds in attendance, many seated but more standing up, all bathed in one bouncy country song after another and in the glow of a 30-foot-wide jumbotron and two smaller ones on facing walls, all glued to Fox News.  

Women were decked out in party dresses, short and long, while most of the men had on at least a sport coat. Many were teens who had been called into service to hand out campaign signs to anyone who would accept them.

Christian Summers, 18, holding a Sanders sign, said he had applied as an intern, “And they kept me on because I worked hard.”

Even the staff videographers were enthusiastic about being there.

Linda Dahl, sitting behind a big camera, was asked if she was a Republican.

“Oh, goodness, yes,” she said. “That’s why I volunteered for this event. I said. ‘Pick me, pick me.’”

Secretary of State Cole Jester, who was elected as land commissioner on Tuesday, said he had taken a few minutes out of his night to join the festivities.

“Hey, don’t you have an election to run?” someone asked him. “You know your website has crashed and everything has gone to shit?”

“No it hasn’t,” Jester said. “Don’t say that.”

Jester said he had high confidence in the election technology being used.

“We’ve had so many special elections,” he said. “If we don’t know what we’re doing by now, we never will.”

A familiar if awkward face in the crowd belonged to Jeremy Hutchinson, a former Arkansas legislator who was convicted in a federal corruption scandal and served two years in prison but was pardoned by President Trump last year. Hutchinson had been talking to another man, but he walked away when a reporter approached the two, apparently not wanting to be seen talking to him.

 He congratulated the Republicans in the room for their expected wins but said Democrats were no doubt headed for a good night.

Standing a few feet away was Randy Zook, head of the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce. He said he thought most incumbents would win in Arkansas but that “nationally it’s a mixed bag.”

While the night ended without a winner being called in Arkansas District 2, Democrat Chris Jones wins the award for best watch party in town, and that’s not likely to be contested. Hundreds of people came to The Hall on West Ninth Street, where bartenders kept everyone hydrated, pristine charcuterie boards were quickly demolished and a DJ spun dance music until after midnight.

A volunteer in a Chris Jones T-shirt and a black beanie cap polished the dance floor all night, manning it alone at first and then sharing it with increasingly lively crowds. His hype-man services were unpaid and gladly given, he said, and asked that we identify him by his nickname, “5 Gallon Bucket Carwash.” 

Lifelong Democrat Margaret McLellan, one of the older attendees, said she was having a grand time at what was her first-ever election watch party. She snagged a seat at a table by the dance floor and scrolled through national results on her phone while soaking in the atmosphere. McLellan said she particularly loved the mix of attendees, which included Black and white, young and old. She’d planned to be home by 9 p.m., but was still at the table at 9:15, scrolling and soaking.

Spirits remained high at 10:30 p.m., when the Jones family took the stage to sing, dance and present a birthday cake to Chris Jones’ father-in-law. Jones told the crowd he loved them, and thanked them for their support. “This space that we’re in is because of all of your hard work,” he said, with his wife and three daughters beside him. 

That was the last time Jones would be on stage Tuesday night. 

The quality of the dance moves on display deteriorated as drinks flowed and energy flagged, and by 11:15 p.m. the crowd was thinner, and more of them were glued to their phone screens. 

At 11:48 p.m., with about 150 people still at the party and Arkansas Secretary of State results showing French Hill with a roughly 4,000-vote lead and all precincts reporting, campaign manager Kimberly Eddings took the stage. 

The race hadn’t been officially called despite what looked to be final numbers, and Eddings said the campaign wouldn’t confirm or call anything “until every single county is called, until every vote is accounted for, until we can say with complete certainty that the race is done,” she said.

“That doesn’t mean that we don’t have this time to celebrate the fact that we have moved the needle,” Eddings said. “Because I think one thing we can all agree on tonight is that we did something here. … Thank you for believing in what we were building, and we will continue to build.”