By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

There aren’t many competitive races in this year’s primary elections, which end March 5. Two are for seats on the Arkansas Supreme Court: chief justice and position 2. 

Today we’ll focus on the chief justice race, which is open because the current officeholder, Dan Kemp, would have to give up his retirement benefits if he ran again. Arkansas levies that financial penalty against judges elected after age 70.

Campaigning for that office are three current justices: Barbara Webb, Rhonda Wood and Karen Baker; and attorney Jay Martin. With four candidates, it seems likely the top two will face each other in the November runoff.

Judicial elections are nonpartisan, and candidates aren’t supposed to take positions on specific issues so they don’t prejudice themselves if they later hear a related case. Candidates can tout their biographies, describe their philosophies in general terms, and offer ideas for improving the court system itself.

Of the three sitting justices, Baker has served the longest. She was elected to the position in 2010 after previously serving 10 years on the Court of Appeals, which is a level below the Supreme Court. She is not running an aggressive campaign and has had not website or social media presence that I can find.

Wood was elected to the Supreme Court in 2014. Before that, she served as a court of appeals judge for two years, and before that she was a circuit judge. Circuit judges handle criminal, civil, probate, domestic relations, and juvenile cases. Her website says she has a “conservative judicial philosophy.” 

On her website, Wood said she wants to make the court system more citizen and business friendly. She proposes instituting text notifications of hearings. She wants to work with district and circuit judges to implement night courts and other alternative ways for people to attend without missing work. Wood also wants to implement policies to address human trafficking and domestic violence. For example, she wants judges to have immediate access to crime data to better make decisions regarding bail, custody, no contact orders, and protection orders. 

Webb is the newest Supreme Court justice, having been elected in 2020. Her website, like Wood’s, describes her as “conservative.” Her husband, Doyle Webb, was the longtime chair of the state Republican Party. She served three terms as a prosecuting attorney starting in 1997 for Saline, Hot Spring and Grant counties. In that position, she re-established that office’s legitimacy after it previously had been held by a corrupt official. She was an administrative law judge for the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission, which means she settled administrative disputes while working for an executive branch agency. She later became the commission’s chief administrative law judge. Webb also has served as a circuit judge. 

Her website says she wants to reduce case backlogs, expand public access to the court, and modernize systems and processes. 

Martin is a former Democratic state legislator from 2003-06, serving as majority leader from 2005-06. He ran unsuccessfully for governor as a Democrat in the last election. He told the Political Animals Club he is now registered as an independent. As a state representative, he sponsored a law making it a felony for an adult to use the internet to solicit sex with a child under age 16. He is president of the Wallace, Martin, Duke & Russell law firm. His website says in that position, “he assists individuals, small businesses, and the poor and vulnerable.” He is an ordained Assemblies of God minister who pastors the inner-city Metro Worship Center in Little Rock. 

The candidates were asked at a forum hosted by the NEA Political Animals Club in Jonesboro how they would handle constraints on the court’s $58 million budget. As reported by Talk Business & Politics, Webb said she would expand technology and would seek to add more court reporters and interpreters. Wood said she would seek to improve technology and security at courthouses, and that a comprehensive statewide study would help the court seek national grants. She said she would not seek more state funding. Martin said he would ask for more state funding, and that each courthouse needs security upgrades. 

If you want to know more, check out the candidates’ websites: jaymartinforchiefjustice.com, webbforarkansas.com, and woodforjustice.com.

May the best candidate win, or at least the best two make the runoff.