2022 Arkansas gubernatorial election

For related races, see 2022 United States gubernatorial elections.
2022 Arkansas gubernatorial election
November 8, 2022
Turnout 50.8% Decrease
 
Nominee Sarah Huckabee Sanders Chris Jones
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 571,105 319,242
Percentage 63.0% 35.2%
Sanders:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
Jones:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%
Governor before election

Asa Hutchinson
Republican

Elected Governor

Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Republican

The 2022 Arkansas gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Arkansas. Incumbent governor Asa Hutchinson was term-limited and could not seek a third term. Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders, daughter of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, defeated Democrat Chris Jones to become the first woman ever elected to the office, and was sworn in on January 10, 2023.

Primary elections in Arkansas were held on May 24. Runoff elections for instances where no candidate receives over 50% of the vote were scheduled for June 21. Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders won the Republican nomination, while Chris Jones won the Democratic nomination.

Leading up to the Republican primary, Sanders received many endorsements from key Republican figures, including Donald Trump, Mike Pence, incumbent Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas' entire U.S. Congressional delegation, and the majority of Republicans in both state legislative chambers. Her primary victory was not remotely close, as she won every county in the state with at least 70% of the vote. As Arkansas is a Republican stronghold, her primary victory virtually guaranteed she would win the general election, in which she defeated Jones by 28 points. Jones became the first Democrat to win Washington County since 2010, and Sanders became the first Republican to win majority-Black Crittenden County since her father in 1998, winning the county by one vote. This is the first time ever that the Republican Party won three straight gubernatorial elections in the state's history.

Sanders became the first female governor of Arkansas. With the election of Leslie Rutledge as lieutenant governor, Arkansas, along with Massachusetts, became the first two U.S. states to elect both a female governor and female lieutenant governor to serve at the same time.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

  • Francis "Doc" Washburn, radio personality

Withdrew

Endorsements

Sarah Huckabee Sanders
U.S. Executive Branch officials
U.S. senators
U.S. representatives
U.S. Governors
State officials
Individuals
Organizations

Polling

Poll source Date(s)
administered 		Sample
size 		Margin
of error 		Leslie
Rutledge 		Sarah
Huckabee Sanders 		Francis
Washburn 		Undecided
Hendrix College May 2, 2022 802 (LV) ± 4.3% – 73% 17% 10%
Remington Research (R) May 1–2, 2022 1,622 (LV) ± 2.2% – 80% 14% 6%
November 9, 2021 Rutledge withdraws from the race
Remington Research (R) October 25–26, 2021 800 (LV) ± 3.5% 16% 73% – 11%
Hendrix College May 26–31, 2021 535 (LV) ± 5.5% 35% 43% – 22%

Results

Results by county:
  Sanders
  •   70–80%
  •   80–90%
  •   90-100%
Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders 289,249 83.14%
Republican Francis "Doc" Washburn 58,638 16.86%
Total votes 347,887 100.0%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

  • Chris Jones, nuclear engineer, MIT graduate, and former executive director of the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub

Eliminated in primary

  • Anthony Bland, public school teacher and nominee for lieutenant governor in 2018
  • James "Rus" Russell, small business owner
  • Supha Xayprasith-Mays, entrepreneur
  • Jay Martin, lawyer and former Majority Leader of the Arkansas House of Representatives

Declined

Endorsements

Chris Jones
Newspaper and other media
Organizations
Jay Martin
Organizations
Supha Xayprasith-Mays
Governors
Statewide officials

Polling

Poll source Date(s)
administered 		Sample
size 		Margin
of error 		Anthony
Bland 		Chris
Jones 		Supha
Xayprasith-Mays 		Jay
Martin 		James
Russell 		Undecided
Hendrix College May 2, 2022 597 (LV) ± 5.0% 3% 60% 2% 3% 2% 31%

Results

Results by county:
  Jones
  •   20-30%
  •   30-40%
  •   40-50%
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  •   80-90%
Democratic primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Chris Jones 66,540 70.43%
Democratic Anthony Bland 9,055 9.58%
Democratic Jay Martin 7,731 8.18%
Democratic James "Rus" Russell 6,421 6.80%
Democratic Supha Xayprasith-Mays 4,725 5.00%
Total votes 94,472 100.0%

Libertarian convention

The Libertarian nominee, prison chaplain Ricky Harrington from Pine Bluff

Candidates

Nominee

Independents

Candidates

Declared

  • William E. Gates, senior pastor at the church of Christian Jewish Freedom in Little Rock

Write-ins

Candidates

Declared

  • Dan Nelson, activist
  • Michael Woodard
  • Elvis Presley, perennial candidate

General election

Predictions

Source Ranking As of
The Cook Political Report Solid R March 4, 2022
Inside Elections Solid R March 4, 2022
Sabato's Crystal Ball Safe R January 26, 2022
Politico Solid R April 1, 2022
RCP Safe R January 10, 2022
Fox News Solid R May 12, 2022
538 Solid R June 30, 2022
Elections Daily Safe R November 7, 2022

Endorsements

Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R)
U.S. Executive Branch officials
U.S. senators
U.S. representatives
U.S. Governors
State officials
Individuals
Organizations
Chris Jones (D)
Labor unions
Organizations

Polling

Aggregate polls
Source of poll
aggregation 		Dates
administered 		Dates
updated 		Sarah
Huckabee
Sanders (R) 		Chris
Jones (D) 		Undecided
 Margin
FiveThirtyEight August 31 – October 31, 2022 November 3, 2022 54.4% 36.1% 9.5% Sanders +18.3
Graphical summary
Poll source Date(s)
administered 		Sample
size 		Margin
of error 		Sarah
Huckabee
Sanders (R) 		Chris
Jones (D) 		Ricky
Harrington (L) 		Undecided
University of Arkansas October 13–31, 2022 557 (LV) – 53% 34% 4% 9%
Hendrix College October 17–18, 2022 835 (LV) ± 3.8% 51% 41% 3% 5%
Remington Research Group (R) September 14–15, 2022 1,418 (LV) ± 3.4% 59% 34% 3% 4%
Hendrix College September 12, 2022 835 (LV) ± 3.8% 51% 40% 2% 7%
Echelon Insights August 31 – September 7, 2022 382 (RV) ± 7.7% 62% 32% – 6%
Remington Research Group (R) February 26–27, 2022 827 (LV) ± 3.4% 58% 28% 3% 10%
Hypothetical polling
Sarah Huckabee Sanders vs. generic Democrat
Poll source Date(s)
administered 		Sample
size 		Margin
of error 		Sarah
Huckabee
Sanders (R) 		Generic
Democrat 		Other Undecided
Hendrix College February 7–8, 2022 961 (LV) ± 4.4% 44% 34% 8% 15%
Generic Republican vs. generic Democrat
Poll source Date(s)
administered 		Sample
size 		Margin
of error 		Generic
Republican 		Generic
Democrat 		Undecided
University of Arkansas October 12–24, 2021 800 (A) ± 3.5% 46% 21% 34%
555 (LV) ± 4.2% 50% 23% 27%

Debates

2022 Arkansas gubernatorial debates
No. Date Host Moderator Link Republican Democratic Libertarian
Key:
 P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Non-invitee   I  Invitee  W  Withdrawn
Sarah Huckabee Sanders Chris Jones Ricky Harrington Jr
1 Oct, 2022 Arkansas PBS Link P P P


Results

2022 Arkansas gubernatorial election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders 571,105 62.96% -2.37%
Democratic Chris Jones 319,242 35.20% +3.43%
Libertarian Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. 16,690 1.84% -1.06%
Total votes 907,037 100.0% N/A
Turnout 907,037 50.81%
Registered electors 1,799,136
Republican hold

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

By congressional district

Huckabee Sanders won all 4 congressional districts.

District Huckabee Sanders Jones Representative
1st 70% 28% Rick Crawford
2nd 56% 43% French Hill
3rd 60% 38% Steve Womack
4th 68% 30% Bruce Westerman

See also