Chris Carnahan

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Chris Carnahan

Arkansas 20th Judicial Circuit Division 1

Tenure

Present officeholder

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of Arkansas, Little Rock, 1994

Graduate

University of Central Arkansas, 2003

Law

William Bowen School of Law, 2005

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Personal Facebook

Chris Carnahan is an officeholder of the Arkansas 20th Judicial Circuit Division 1.

Carnahan ran for election for the Position 2 judge of the Arkansas Supreme Court. He lost in the general runoff election on November 8, 2022.

Carnahan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Carnahan was appointed to the circuit court in October 2016 by Gov. Asa Hutchinson for a term lasting from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2018. He replaced Judge Mike Murphy, who was elected to the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

Biography

Carnahan obtained a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. He also holds an M.A. from the University of Central Arkansas.

At the time of his appointment in October 2016, Carnahan was general counsel for the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy. His professional experience also includes work as senior deputy prosecuting attorney for the 20th Judicial District and deputy prosecuting attorney for the 15th Judicial District. He has also served as city attorney for Holland, Oppelo, and Menifee; city prosecutor for Fairfield Bay and Marshall; and election commissioner for Faulkner County.

Elections

2022

See also: Arkansas Supreme Court elections, 2022

General runoff election

General runoff election for Arkansas Supreme Court Position 2

Incumbent Robin Wynne defeated Chris Carnahan in the general runoff election for Arkansas Supreme Court Position 2 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Robin Wynne (Nonpartisan)	58.4	450,094
		Chris Carnahan (Nonpartisan)	41.6	321,123

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 771,217
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

General election

General election for Arkansas Supreme Court Position 2

Incumbent Robin Wynne and Chris Carnahan advanced to a runoff. They defeated David Sterling in the general election for Arkansas Supreme Court Position 2 on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Robin Wynne (Nonpartisan)	49.5	202,815
✔		Chris Carnahan (Nonpartisan)	28.8	117,859
		David Sterling (Nonpartisan)	21.7	88,938

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 409,612
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Chris Carnahan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Carnahan's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am I lifelong Arkansan who believes we need judges to stay in their lane and. It legislate from the bench. I’ve been a Circuit Judge, small town attorney, deputy prosecutor, Republican election commissioner for my county and former Executive Director of the Republican Party of Arkansas. I graduated from McClellan High School in Little Rock and have degrees in mathematics and history from UALR and a Masters Degree in History from UCA. Proud dad to Logan!

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I support Constitutional Law and Order
• I will not legislate from the bench
• I will not pre-judge the outcome of the case to achieve public policy goals that I want as an individual.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Equality before the law

Certain and swift enforcement of the criminal laws
Protection Of the individual against overreaching government authority.

Keeping each citizens’ Second amendment rights free from unwarranted governmental infringement

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

George Washington

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The fall of the US Embassy in Saigon. I didn’t understand the significance at the time but remember how angry my father was.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Kroger bagger. Was there for about five months

How would you describe your legal philosophy?

Original textualist

Is there a particular judge, past or present, whom you admire?

Clarence Thomas

Do you believe that empathy is an important quality for a judge?

Yes as long as she or he follows the law.

Have you ever been rated by a Bar Association? If so, what was the rating?

No

What is your primary concern about today's legal system in your state?

I believe the Arkansas Supreme Court strays outside its Constitutional limits and has erred in its application in cases of political concern that are best left to the Executive and Legislative branches.

How does your state’s supreme court serve as part of the state government’s checks and balances?

They are the guarantor of the limitations placed on government by the people of the State of Arkansas.

Do you believe that Bar Association ratings are an accurate reflection of a judge’s ability?

No

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2022 Elections

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Candidate

Arkansas Supreme Court Position 2

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