Taylor Samples (left) and Mark Scalise (right) (Courtesy photos)Voters in Washington County on Tuesday elected a new district court judge to replace Jeff Harper, who is retiring at the end of the year after 12 years.
Taylor Samples defeated Mark Scalise to win the State District Judge Distric 2, Division 1 contest.
The final, but unofficial results released from the Washington County Election Commission, show:
Samples 13,210 (54%)
Scalise 11,446 (46%)
The nonpartisan judicial position serves Springdale and Elm Springs district courts, and some voters in Benton County cast votes for the seat.
In other local election news, Fayetteville voters approved the continued school millage tax; Greenland voters approved Sunday liquor sales; Bradley Burns defeated Ofelia Cypert for the Republican nomination in the race for Justice of the Peace District 1; and U.S. Rep. Steve Womack won the Republican nomination for his seat in Northwest Arkansas.
Greenland voters also approved two annexation questions that would increase the city’s population by about 20%.
Statewide, Arkansas Supreme Court Justices Karen Baker and Rhonda Wood advanced to a runoff election for the chief justice post, and Justice Courtney Hudson was reelected in another race.
Joe Biden won the Democratic presidential primary in Arkansas, and Donald Trump won the Republican presidential primary.
A total of 25,832 people turned out for the election in Washington County, which is just under 19% of all the registered voters in the county.
