Prairie Grove’s Mark Martin wants to be your Secretary of State | Political filings, Day 4

State Rep. Mark Martin, R-Prairie Grove

The biggest local news today in the political filings is Rep. Mark Martin‘s reach for the Secretary of State’s office. The race already has three Democrats vying for the spot, so unless another Republican files tomorrow, Martin stays a hopeful until November.

Martin represents District 87, aka Prairie Grove, in the General Assembly. He is easily the most new media savvy of Washington County’s current crop of delegates. He maintains a blog, Off the Marble, that I first noticed during the 2009 General Assembly. You may recall his apology during that same session after yelling “It’s the law” during a discussion of the balanced budget.

Otherwise, in local races we see the four-way (see corrections below) circuit judge race between lawyers Charles M. Duell, Gary L. Carson, Joanna Taylor and Steve Zega for the newly created Division 7 seat. Beth Storey Bryan, daughter of sitting judge William Storey, is running against Marsha “Marti” Woodruff for the Division 5 robes.

Those judicial races are decided during the May primary unless there is a run-off, so expect their campaign season to be abbreviated and lackluster. Judicial races in Arkansas are publicly a bit like watching two boxers with at least one, and sometimes two hands, tied behind their back, because of the rules governing what they can say while campaigning.

We shall see what tomorrow brings once again.

Check out Ozarks Unbound’s complete list of filings here.

[Corrections: All apologies. This is my career record. Three corrections in six paragraphs of copy. I caught one myself and two others were pointed out to me by an astute reader. Seriously, thanks. Makes me a better reporter. I shouldn't write so late at night. So, let's start with the fact that there are four candidates in the circuit judge race for the Division 7 seat. This includes Judge Joanna Taylor of Huntsville who I neglected to mention. Second, Courtney Henry did draw a challenge Thursday from Judge John N. Fogleman of Marion for the State Supreme Court. Finally, Friday is not the last day of filing. Monday, March 8, is the last day to file.]

Christopher Spencer

Christopher Spencer, 36, is the publisher and owner of Ozarks Unbound and the food news site, The Fayetteville Food File. He is the chair of the Fayetteville Creative Economy Action Group and the social media chair of the Northwest Arkansas Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He's also the founder of WordCamp Fayetteville. You can always contact him at cspencer@ozarksunbound.com

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2 Comments

• eLwood says:

  March 7, 2010 at 11:28 am

  Hopefully your readers realize why the Sec of State race if VERY important this year. After the 2010 Census is taken it’s time for apportionment which occurs each 10 years. This is where leaders will set lines of political division in each District and County.
  Three people in Ark will control re apportionment:
  Governor
  Sec of State
  Speaker of the House.
  .
  Perhaps with Demo control we can break up Senate District 35 which couples Elkins, Prairie Grove, Lincoln with Springdale… meaning it’s going to stay Republican unless the boundaries change, meaning there is no reason for a chicken farmer from Elkins to listen to the concerns of school parents in Lincoln.
  .
• Christopher Spencer says:

  March 17, 2010 at 12:01 am

  Thanks! I didn’t make the apportionment connection either, so thank you very much for pointing it out, eLwood. It’s an astute and important observation.

  With census data coming in, it’s going to be very critical that district lines are drawn appropriately without trying to create artificial voting blocks based on party loyalties.

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