The 2020 United States Senate election in Arkansas was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

to represent the

State of Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma to th ...

, concurrently with the

2020 U.S. presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala Harris defeated the incumbent Republican president Donald Trump and vi ...

, as well as other elections to the United States Senate,

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican senator

Tom Cotton Thomas Bryant Cotton (born May 13, 1977) is an American politician and United States Army, Army veteran serving since 2015 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Arkansas. A memb ...

won reelection to a second term, defeating

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

challenger Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. Though Cotton outperformed President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

in the concurrent presidential election by 4.1%, the election saw an

undervote Voter drop-off, roll-off, or undervoting occurs when a voter selects fewer options in a contest than the maximum number allowed or makes no selection at all for a particular election. Undervotes may be intentional or unintentional. Intentional un ...

of 26,000 compared to the presidential election. Harrington's 33.5% finish was the best ever for a Libertarian candidate in a U.S. Senate election by vote percentage, surpassing Joe Miller's vote share in the 2016 Alaska race, and also by total number of votes, surpassing Michael Cloud's total in the 2002 Massachusetts race. It was also the highest vote percentage ever won by a Libertarian candidate in any U.S. statewide race, surpassing

John Monds John Monds (born June 17, 1965) is an American politician and activist. He was the Libertarian nominee for Governor of Georgia in 2010. He was the first African American to appear on the general election ballot for Governor of Georgia. In 2008 ...

's vote share in the 2008 Georgia Public Service Commission race. Per exit polls, this largely appears to be due to many Democrats deciding to pick Harrington as there was no Democratic candidate on the ballot (82% of Democratic voters backed Harrington). Harrington won three counties, all of which were also won by Democratic presidential nominee

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

Republican nominee

In 2018,

, the incumbent U.S. senator, announced that he would run for re-election in 2020. Without any opposing candidates, there was not a contested primary, so Cotton automatically won the Republican nomination.

Libertarian nominee

Ricky Dale Harrington Jr., Christian missionary and prison chaplain, announced that he would seek the Libertarian nomination. He subsequently became the Libertarian nominee.

Withdrawn candidates

Democratic Party

Josh Mahony was the only candidate to file for the Democratic primary; however, he withdrew his candidacy due to a "family health concern" on November 12, 2019. Because Mahony dropped out after the filing deadline, the

Democratic Party of Arkansas The Democratic Party of Arkansas is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Arkansas. The current party chair is Grant Tennille. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton was born in Arkansas, and served as state governor from 1979 to 198 ...

could only nominate a replacement if the candidate died, became seriously ill, left the state, or filed for another office. As a result, the Democratic Party of Arkansas was not able to fill the vacancy. A memo from the Cotton campaign to supporters detailed a strategy of sitting on opposition research regarding Mahony's employment history until after the filing deadline had passed.

Withdrawn

*Josh Mahony, nonprofit executive, former chair of the Fayetteville Airport Commission, and nominee for

Arkansas's 3rd congressional district Arkansas's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The district covers Northwest Arkansas and takes in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville, Springdale, Arkansas, Sp ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Declined

Wesley Clark Wesley Kanne Clark (born Wesley J. Kanne, 23 December 1944) is a retired United States Army officer. He graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at United States Military Academy, West Point and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the U ...

, retired General, former

Supreme Allied Commander Supreme Allied Commander is the title held by the most senior commander within certain multinational military alliances. It originated as a term used by the Allies during World War I, and is currently used only within NATO for Supreme Allied Co ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate

Independents

Withdrawn

*Dan Whitfield, progressive activist. On June 25, 2020, Whitfield's petition to run was denied for failing to gain enough signatures, an effort that was complicated by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Whitfield filed an appeal with the

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (in case citations, 8th Cir.) is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts: * Eastern District of Arkansas * Western ...

in an attempt to overturn this ruling. He officially suspended his campaign on October 1.

General election

In public comments, Harrington spoke about excessive partisanship in the election process itself and in Senate operations, such as the contentious nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Cotton declined to attend a debate hosted by

Arkansas PBS Arkansas PBS (sometimes shortened to AR PBS) is a state network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is operated by the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, a statutory non-cabinet agency of the Arkan ...

, leaving Harrington as the sole participant. Harrington spent the debate responding to questions put to him by a panel of journalists.

Predictions

Endorsements

Polling

Graphical summary

Polls

Results

By county

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican *

Chicot Chicot (c. 1540–1591), real name Jean-Antoine d'Anglerais, was the jester of King Henry III of France and later Henry IV. He spoke with the king without formalities. Biography Chicot was born in Gascony in 1540. He had a strong military backgr ...

(largest municipality: Dermott) *

Clark Clark is an English language surname with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland, ultimately derived from the Latin ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated ...

(largest municipality:

Arkadelphia Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,380. The city is the county seat of Clark County. It is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henders ...

) * Crittenden (largest municipality:

West Memphis West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 24,520 at the 2020 census, ranking it as the state's 20th largest city. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area, and is located directly acro ...

) * Desha (largest municipality: Dumas) *

Lee Lee may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film * ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film * ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist * ''L ...

(largest municipality: Marianna) *

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

(largest municipality: Blytheville) *

Monroe Monroe or Monroes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Monroe (surname) * Monroe (given name) * James Monroe, 5th President of the United States * Marilyn Monroe, actress and model Places United States * Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorp ...

(largest municipality:

Brinkley Brinkley may refer to: People * Brinkley (surname) Places * Brinkley, Arkansas, U.S., a city ** Brinkley School District, the city's school district ** Brinkley High School, the city's high school * Brinkley, Nottinghamshire, England, a haml ...

) * Ouachita (largest municipality: Camden) * St. Francis (largest municipality:

Forrest City Forrest City is a city in and the county seat of St. Francis County, Arkansas, United States. It was named for General Nathan Bedford Forrest, a notable Confederate war hero who later became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Shortly ...

) * Woodruff (largest municipality: Augusta) Counties that flipped from Democratic to Libertarian *

Jefferson Jefferson may refer to: Names * Jefferson (surname) * Jefferson (given name) People * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States * Jefferson (footballer) * Jefferson (singer) or Geoff Turton (born 1944), British s ...

(largest municipality: Pine Bluff) * Phillips (largest municipality: Helena–West Helena) * Pulaski (largest municipality:

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

)

By congressional district

Cotton won all four congressional districts.

Notes

Partisan clients

References

External links

* * * (State affiliate of the U.S.

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan American nonprofit political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include Voter registration, registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and adv ...

) * Official campaign websites
Tom Cotton (R) for Senate

Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. (L) for Senate
(archived) {{US Third Party Election

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

Republican nominee

Libertarian nominee

Withdrawn candidates

Democratic Party

Withdrawn

Declined

Independents

Withdrawn

General election

Predictions

Endorsements

Polling

Graphical summary

Polls

Results

By county

By congressional district

Notes

See also

References

External links