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Arkansas Attorney General Election

Primary Date: May 20, 2014

General Election Date: November 4, 2014

Race rating:

November 4 Election Winner: Leslie Rutledge

Incumbent prior to election: Dustin McDaniel

Arkansas State Executive ElectionsTop Ballot Governor •Lieutenant Governor Secretary of State •Attorney General Down Ballot Treasurer, Auditor

TheArkansas Attorney General election took place onNovember 4, 2014. IncumbentDustin McDaniel (D) was term-limited and unable to seek re-election.

The attorney general's race generated a competitive Republican primary and a three-way race to the general election.Leslie Rutledge emerged from the Republican field to win the party's nomination. Rutledge went on to defeat DemocratNate Steel andLibertarianAaron Cash. Learn more about the primary election and issues in the general election in therace background section.

This office was held by McDaniel, aDemocrat, for two terms. Rutledge's 2014 win turned the office over to Republican control. Learn more about recent elections for the office by jumping to thepast elections section.

The primary election was held on May 20, 2014, followed by a primary runoff election onJune 10, 2014.

Aprimary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Arkansas utilizes anopen primary system. Registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.^[1][2]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, seethis article.

Candidates

General election

Leslie Rutledge^[3]
Nate Steel^[4]
Aaron Cash^[5]

Did not file for office

Dustin McDaniel -Incumbent

Lost in the runoff

David Sterling^[6]

Lost in the primary

Patricia Nation^[7][8]

Results

General election

Attorney General of Arkansas, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Leslie Rutledge	51.6%	430,799
	Democratic	Nate Steel	43.2%	360,680
	Libertarian	Aaron Cash	5.2%	43,245
Total Votes				834,724
Election results viaArkansas Secretary of State

Runoff

Arkansas Attorney General, Republican Primary Runoff, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Leslie Rutledge	58.9%	43,898
David Sterling	41.1%	30,643
Total Votes		74,541
Election results viaArkansas Secretary of State.

Primary election

Republican primary

Arkansas Attorney General, Republican Primary, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Leslie Rutledge	47.2%	79,347
David Sterling	39.1%	65,733
Patricia Nation	13.7%	22,986
Total Votes		168,066
Election results viaArkansas Secretary of State.

Democratic primary

• Uncontested

Race background

In December 2013, the attorney general race was given its second consecutive "toss-up" rating byGoverning. In March 2013, the open seat—held by term-limitedDemocratDustin McDaniel—was first rated vulnerable to partisan switch in the 2014 elections. Shortly before the March rating came out, McDaniel admitted to an extramarital affair in his attorney general tenure. As a result, McDaniel ended his campaign for the governor's office, which was open in 2014 due to incumbent Gov.Mike Beebe hitting term limits.^[9]

Ballot access for political parties

See also:Requirements to establish a political party in Arkansas

InArkansas, the process to establish a political party is tied to the votes cast in a presidential or gubernatorial election. In order to initially put candidates on the ballot, political parties must submit a petition with 10,000 signatures. Then, in order to maintain that status beyond the election year in which they submit such a petition, their candidate for governor or president must receive at least three percent of the votes cast for that office.^[10][11]

In 2012, both theLibertarian andGreen parties of Arkansas qualified to put candidates on the ballot, but then their candidates did not receive enough votes for the parties to maintain their ballot status. In the fall of 2013, both parties submitted new petitions and were qualified to put candidates on the 2014 ballot.^[12][13][14] In order to maintain their status as political parties without needing to petition for the 2016 elections, their candidates forgovernor needed to receive at least 3 percent of the vote.Frank Gilbert (L) received 1.9 percent of the gubernatorial vote, andJosh Drake (G) earned 1.1 percent of the vote.^[15]

Primary election

Five candidates—three Republican, one Democratic and one Libertarian—filed for the election to replace McDaniel. A primary was held on May 20 to decide which of the three Republicans would move on to the general election with the party's nomination. NeitherLeslie Rutledge norDavid Sterling, both lawyers from Little Rock, received a sufficient share of the vote to avoid a primary runoff election on June 10.

Rutledge and Sterling both focused on their legal resumes and past efforts to support conservative causes. Rutledge said she was “the only one with experience fighting crime, the only one with experience fighting the overreaching federal government.” Sterling, meanwhile, said his federal court experience made him the better candidate. “The AG’s office is essentially Arkansas’ largest law firm, and I think that the voters want a serious and responsible and experienced attorney leading that law firm,” Sterling said.^[16]

Rutledge ultimately defeated Sterling in the Republican primary runoff, earning over 58 percent of the vote.^[17] She faced unopposed Democratic nomineeNate Steel and LibertarianAaron Cash in the general election on November 4.

Questions over Rutledge's voter registration

In late September,Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane (D) revoked Rutledge's voter registration because she was also registered inWashington, D.C., andVirginia. Rutledge criticized Crane's decision as a political maneuver and said in an interview with the Arkansas News Bureau, "There are consequences related to gender when it comes to women in politics, particularly, we know, when they run for traditionally quote-unquote masculine offices, and the attorney general's office is one of those."^[18][18][19]

Polls

Past elections

2010

Attorney General of Arkansas, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Dustin McDanielIncumbent	72.8%	525,940
	Green	Rebekah Kennedy	26.8%	193,658
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.4%	3,216
Total Votes				722,814
Election results viaArkansas Secretary of State

2006

Attorney General of Arkansas, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Dustin McDaniel	58.5%	443,476
	Republican	Gunner DeLay	37.1%	281,598
	Green	Rebekah Kennedy	4.4%	33,386
Total Votes				758,460

Campaign finance

Comprehensive donor information for this election has been collected by Follow the Money. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of$2,147,533 during the election. This information was last updated on May 11, 2015.^[20]

Campaign Contribution Totals
Candidate	Office	Result	Contributions
Nate Steel	Arkansas Attorney General		$1,123,093
Leslie Rutledge	Arkansas Attorney General		$790,751
David Sterling	Arkansas Attorney General		$210,493
Patricia Nation	Arkansas Attorney General		$22,980
Aaron Cash	Arkansas Attorney General		$216
Grand Total Raised			$2,147,533

Key deadlines

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Arkansas + Attorney + General + Election + 2014"

See also

• Arkansas Attorney General
• Arkansas state executive official elections, 2014
• State executive official elections, 2014
• Preview of 2014's most competitive down ballot state executive races

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Attorney General of Arkansas
• Governing'sWhat's Ahead for the Attorney General Races in 2014?

Footnotes

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