Allen ousts Rogers in prosecutor’s race; other incumbents prevail

A longtime incumbent was unseated in one of Carroll County’s most closely watched races Tuesday night as challenger Robert “Beau” Allen defeated Prosecuting Attorney Tony Rogers in the preferential primary, nonpartisan judicial and school election.

Allen received 3,389 votes, or 67.18 percent, compared with 1,656 votes, or 32.82 percent, for Rogers.

The result ends Rogers’ lengthy tenure as the county’s top prosecutor.

Allen will take office Jan. 1, 2027. The prosecuting attorney position is nonpartisan.

Other incumbents fared considerably better in Tuesday’s results.

Carroll County Judge David Writer easily secured the Republican nomination for re-election, defeating challenger Dianna Baird by more than 20 percentage points.

Writer received 2,506 votes, or 60.65 percent, while Baird received 1,626 votes, or 39.35 percent.

Writer will be opposed by Democratic candidate Jim Wallace of Eureka Springs in the November general election.

Bryan King of Green Forest was re-elected to the District 28 seat in the Arkansas State Senate over challenger Bobby Ballinger, receiving 59.66 percent of the vote across the district. King fared even better in Carroll County, where he got 64.37 percent of the vote. The district includes all of Carroll, Madison, Boone and Newton counties as well as portions of Franklin and Johnson counties.

Another legislative contest will move on to a runoff.

In the Republican primary for the District 6 seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives, Carroll County District 4 Justice of the Peace Hunter Rivett led the three-candidate field but did not receive the majority needed to avoid a March 31 runoff against Cody Rogers of Omaha.

Rivett got 55.40 percent of the vote in Carroll County, but finished with 47.66 percent districtwide, while Rogers received 41.01 percent across the district, which also includes Boone County. The third candidate, Steven Baird, received 11.33 percent of the votes districtwide. With no Democrat seeking the office, the winner of the Rivett-Rogers runoff will be unopposed in November.

 Several races for positions on the Carroll County Quorum Court were also decided Tuesday.

The closest race of the evening occurred in Justice of the Peace District 2, where Republican Chris Clifton defeated Margaret Hickman by just seven votes. Clifton received 240 votes, or 50.74 percent, while Hickman received 233 votes, or 49.26 percent. 

In Justice of the Peace District 4, Republican Luke Dignan avoided a runoff by winning a three-way race.

Dignan received 269 votes, or 57.60 percent, compared with 138 votes, or 29.55 percent, for Duane Coatney and 60 votes, or 12.85 percent, for Eric Griesenauer.

In Justice of the Peace District 6, incumbent Craig Hicks was re-elected by a wide margin. Hicks received 234 votes, or 85.40 percent, compared with 40 votes, or 14.60 percent, for challenger Lisa Price-Backs.

Two contested school board races were also decided Tuesday night.

In the Eureka Springs School District, Ginger Johnson defeated Travis D. Holloway for Position 5 on the school board. Johnson received 1,083 votes, or 55.54 percent, while Holloway received 867 votes, or 44.46 percent.

In the Green Forest School District, incumbent Kenny Bonham won re-election to the Zone 5 seat on the school board with a decisive margin over challenger Paul Wells.

Bonham received 173 votes, or 69.20 percent, while Wells received 77 votes, or 30.80 percent.

Overall voter turnout in Carroll County was just over 31 percent, with 5,281 ballots cast out of 16,878 registered voters, according to unofficial results released Tuesday night by the Carroll County Election Commission. Those results remain subject to certification by the commission.