Supreme Court

With about two-thirds of the votes counted in the race to become the next chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, Associate Justice Karen Baker opened a lead of almost six points over his compatriot Judge Rhonda Wood.

Wood is the most famous name in this race, for reasons both good and bad. She is close to the Huckabees (she was first appointed to the Faulkner County bench by then-Governor Mike Huckabee) and has long been a darling of conservatives in state judicial circles. On the other hand, she added a number of detractors this year by writing the opinion that kept the Arkansas Abortion Amendment off the ballot, as well as other questionable decisions.

This newfound infamy Wood has found among some Arkansas voters also appears to outweigh Wood’s other advantage in the race: money. If Baker wins the race, she will do so even if she is outscored and outspent by a margin of more than 10-1. Wood raised more than $254,000, loaned his campaign $100,000 and spent about $341,000, while Baker brought in just over $21,000, loaned his campaign $13,200 and spent about $15,000, according to their pre-election financial reports.

If you’re looking for evidence that Baker’s lead might be real, here it is: Among the votes counted so far, Baker leads Wood in all four types of ballots: absentee (+850); start (+29,000); election day (+13,500); and provisional (+16).

Court of Appeal

Circuit Judge Casey Tucker is 3.5 points ahead of Molly McNulty in the race for one of the Court of Appeals seats that covers Pulaski, Perry and Saline counties with two-thirds of the votes counted.

Tucker held an advantage of about 10,000 votes when early vote totals were released just after 7 p.m. This figure has increased to more than 5,100.

This race is on a lot of people’s radars, especially because a Tucker victory means Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders could appoint someone to fill Tucker’s seat on the Pulaski County Circuit Court, while a McNulty victory would prevent that.