Arkansas governor moves up special election date for state Senate seat

A special election to fill state Senate District 18 has been moved up three weeks to Dec. 15, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Monday.

Sanders previously set Jan. 5, 2027, as the date of the special general election for the seat that had been held by former Republican Sen. Jonathan Dismang. In setting the new date, the Republican governor cited a state law that requires she do so in the event that only one or two candidates have filed for the nomination of a party holding a primary. 

Two people — Camille Feyen, a Democrat, and Will Moore, a Republican — filed to run in their parties’ respective primaries to replace Dismang, who stepped down last month to take a job with Arkansas Electric Cooperatives. 

Sanders had previously set Nov. 3 as the date for the special primary elections. Under the new schedule, county election commissioners must certify the results of the primary on Wednesday.

Senate District 18 covers White County and parts of Faulkner and Cleburne counties. The winner of the Dec. 15 special election will serve the remainder of Dismang’s term, which ends in January 2029. 

Two other candidates, Steven McClelland and Trevor McGarrah, filed to run as independents. 

Dismang’s resignation from the Senate kicked off the latest in a series of legislative special elections in 2026 as a result of deaths, new jobs and arrests. Not including Dismang’s former seat, five other vacancies have been filled or are in the process of being filled in both chambers since January.

With the vacancy, Republicans hold a 27-6 majority in the Senate. Senate District 1’s seat, previously held by Republican Sen. Ben Gilmore, is also empty.

Dismang, the former co-chairman of the Joint Budget Committee and an architect of the state’s hybrid Medicaid expansion, served in the Legislature for nearly two decades.

Sanders has previously run into legal issues for how she has handled scheduling special elections. She was successfully sued twice last year over lengthy timelines to fill vacancies in Senate District 26 and House District 70 after she set the dates for June 2026.