Arkansas' 3rd Congressional District election, 2020

	2022 → ← 2018
Arkansas' 3rd Congressional District
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: November 11, 2019
	Primary: March 3, 2020; Primary runoff: March 31, 2020; General: November 3, 2020; Pre-election incumbent:; Steve Womack (Republican)
How to vote
	Poll times: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Voting in Arkansas
Race ratings
	Cook Political Report: Solid Republican; Inside Elections: Solid Republican; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
	U.S. Senate battlegrounds; U.S. House battlegrounds; Federal and state primary competitiveness; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
See also
	Arkansas' 3rd Congressional District; U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th; Arkansas elections, 2020; U.S. Congress elections, 2020; U.S. Senate elections, 2020; U.S. House elections, 2020; Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

All U.S. congressional districts, including the 3rd Congressional District of Arkansas, held elections in 2020.

Incumbent Steve Womack won election in the general election for U.S. House Arkansas District 3.

Candidate filing deadline	Primary election	General election
November 11, 2019	March 3, 2020	November 3, 2020

Heading into the election the incumbent was Republican Steve Womack, who was first elected in 2010.

The 3rd Congressional District is located in northwestern Arkansas. Benton, Boone, Carroll, Marion, Pope, and Washington counties as well as portions of Crawford, Newton, Searcy, and Sebastian counties are included in the boundaries of the district.^[1]

Post-election analysis

The table below compares the vote totals in the 2020 presidential election and 2020 U.S. House election for this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

Presidential and congressional election results, Arkansas' 3rd Congressional District, 2020
Race	Presidential	U.S. House
Democratic candidate	35.2	31.8
Republican candidate	61.9	64.3
Difference	26.7	32.5

Election procedure changes in 2020

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

Arkansas modified its absentee/mail-in voting procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election as follows:

Absentee/mail-in voting: Voters in the general election could cite concerns over COVID-19 as a valid excuse for voting absentee.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House Arkansas District 3

Incumbent Steve Womack defeated Celeste Williams and Michael Kalagias in the general election for U.S. House Arkansas District 3 on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Steve Womack (R)	64.3	214,960
	Celeste Williams (D)	31.8	106,325
	Michael Kalagias (L)	3.9	12,977

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 334,262
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Celeste Williams advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Arkansas District 3.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Steve Womack advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Arkansas District 3.

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+19, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 19 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Arkansas' 3rd Congressional District the 46th most Republican nationally.^[2]

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 1.00. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 1.00 points toward that party.^[3]

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.^[4] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.^[5] The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Steve Womack	Republican Party	$1,128,159	$924,121	$1,363,257	As of December 31, 2020
Celeste Williams	Democratic Party	$356,060	$356,060	$0	As of November 30, 2020
Michael Kalagias	Libertarian Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. * Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

Race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.^[6]
Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Race ratings: Arkansas' 3rd Congressional District election, 2020
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 3, 2020	October 27, 2020	October 20, 2020	October 13, 2020
The Cook Political Report	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Safe Republican
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.

Candidate ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for 3rd Congressional District candidates in Arkansas in the 2020 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Arkansas, click here.

Filing requirements, 2020
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Signature formula	Filing fee	Filing fee formula	Filing deadline	Source
Arkansas	3rd Congressional District	Democratic	N/A	N/A	$10,000.00	Fixed number	11/12/2019	Source
Arkansas	3rd Congressional District	Republican	N/A	N/A	$15,000.00	Fixed number	11/12/2019	Source
Arkansas	3rd Congressional District	Unaffiliated	2,000	3% of votes cast for governor in the last election in the district, not to exceed 2,000	N/A	N/A	5/1/2020	Source

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

One of 75 Arkansas counties—1.33 percent—is a Pivot County. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County	Trump margin of victory in 2016	Obama margin of victory in 2012	Obama margin of victory in 2008
Woodruff County, Arkansas	8.91%	4.21%	7.46%

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won Arkansas with 60.6 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton (D) received 33.7 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Arkansas voted Democratic 66.67 percent of the time and Republican 30 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, Arkansas voted Republican all five times.

District election history