Primary time

Our endorsements today

HERE IS a list of our endorsements in today’s primary:

■ FOR the library tax. In November, voters in Little Rock overwhelmingly approved a 0.5-mill increase to the local property tax rate that supports the Central Arkansas Library System’s operational budget. Nate Coulter, the system’s executive director, says the library is now following through on a pledge from that election by asking voters to lower their mills on the capital budget from 1.8 to 1.3 mills while reissuing bonds.

This doesn’t happen every day. Please take advantage of it, Long-Suffering Taxpayer.

■ U.S. Senator in the Republican primary: John Boozman.

He’s got opponents on his right—his far right. But Senator Boozman seems Republican enough, conservative enough, for us.

And for the NRA. And for Arkansas Right to Life.

And the Family Research Council. And for Donald Trump, Tom Cotton and Sarah Sanders—all of whom endorsed him. Also, he’s conservative enough for Arkansas’ voters, who keep re-electing him. Let’s do it one more time.

■ U.S. Representative in the 2nd District in the GOP primary: French Hill.

French Hill, a banker by trade, has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2015. Before that, he was a deputy assistant secretary of Treasury and senior White House aide to President George H.W. Bush. If, by chance, Congress can implement policies that take on inflation, record debt, the yearly deficit, bogus budgets, difficult trade deals and all these funding deadlines, it’s going to need more people like French Hill. That is, people with his expertise.

■ Governor in the Republican primary: Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

She’s the only serious candidate in this primary.

■ Governor in the Democratic primary: Chris Jones.

He come across as a different kind of Democrat, mostly.

■ Lieutenant governor in the Republican primary: Leslie Rutledge.

The soon-to-be former attorney general of Arkansas has the experience necessary to be on deck in case the governor’s job comes open unexpectedly.

■ Attorney general in the Republican primary: Tim Griffin.

The soon-to-be former lieutenant governor keeps running for high office, and keeps winning, because Arkansans like how he performs in the job(s).

■ State treasurer in the GOP primary: Mat Pitsch.

Arkansans want a treasurer who has proven he can handle his own finances. And that would be enough to vote for Mat Pitsch. But he also has the experience to handle this office.

■ Secretary of state in the GOP primary: John Thurston.

He deserves to win this primary just for pulling off elections during a pandemic.

■ Secretary of state in the Democratic primary: Anna Beth Gorman.

Anna Beth Gorman is executive director of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas. She says she wants to increase voter engagement and supports online voter registration. But “not from a partisan side, but from an efficiency side” because online registration would save money for the state.

■ State House of Representatives, District 71: Brandon Achor or Wes Booker. We can’t make up our minds. Except to say it’s a shame only one can win. And the other candidate will have to go back into the community to lead in other ways. It’s not often a race is a pick between two excellent candidates. The Maumelle area is lucky that way.

■ State House of Representatives, District 73: Robert Steinbuch. Legislators are also called lawmakers, and here’s somebody who’s a lawmaker before he’s a lawmaker: He’s actually helped write laws on a couple of levels. The man not only teaches law students about the law, but sitting legislators, too.

■ State House of Representatives, District 92: Julie Mayberry. The Mayberrys have a family tradition going: They make excellent lawmakers. And Julie Mayberry is specializing in health-care law. It’s not a bad speciality to have.

■ State Senate, District 17: Mark Johnson. He’s a friend of the FOIA in Arkansas, and the Arkansas General Assembly needs more lawmakers who take that seriously.

■ Arkansas Supreme Court, Position 2: Chris Carnahan.

Originalist. Textualist. Best candidate in the race.

■ Arkansas Supreme Court, Position 6: Gunner DeLay.

Originalist. Textualist. Best candidate in the race.

■ Court of Appeals, District 6, Position 2: Wendy Wood.

Well, let her tell it: “[F]or the past 15 years, I devoted myself to public service as an attorney at the Arkansas Court of Appeals, working each day directly with retiring Judge Larry Vaught. Today I am now running for his seat, and I bring to the table experience in having handled over 1,500 appeals and written over 500 draft opinions for him.”

■ Prosecuting attorney in the 6th District (Pulaski and Perry counties): Will Jones.

Why is George Soros, the liberal billionaire, spending a lot of money to fund ads for his opponent? Central Arkansas can’t have a soft-on-crime prosecutor. Not with what’s going on these days. We need an experienced prosecutor, like Will Jones.