Chris Olson

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Christopher Olson

Libertarian Party

Candidate, Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands

Elections and appointments

Last convention

February 22, 2026

Next election

November 3, 2026

Personal

Profession

Mental Healthcare Worker

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Christopher Olson (Libertarian Party) is running for election for Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 3, 2026. He advanced from the Libertarian Party convention on February 22, 2026.

Biography

Olson is a Libertarian activist. He works in mental healthcare.

Elections

2026

See also: Arkansas Public Lands Commissioner election, 2026

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands

Cole Jester (R) and Christopher Olson (L) are running in the general election for Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Cole Jester (R)
		Christopher Olson (L)

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
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Democratic primary

The Democratic primary scheduled for March 3, 2026, was canceled.

Republican primary

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

Republican primary for Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands

Cole Jester (R) defeated Christian Olson (R) in the Republican primary for Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cole Jester	72.0	96,564
		Christian Olson	28.0	37,551

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	There were no incumbents in this race. Source	Total votes: 134,115
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Lance Restum (R)

Libertarian Party convention

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

Libertarian convention for Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands

Christopher Olson (L) advanced from the Libertarian Party convention for Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands on February 22, 2026.

		Candidate
✔		Christopher Olson

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	There were no incumbents in this race. Source
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Endorsements

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2018

See also: Arkansas Secretary of State election, 2018

General election

General election for Arkansas Secretary of State

John Thurston defeated Susan Inman and Christopher Olson in the general election for Arkansas Secretary of State on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John Thurston (R)	60.6	537,581
		Susan Inman (D)	36.5	323,644
		Christopher Olson (L)	2.9	25,320

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 886,545 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Arkansas Secretary of State

Susan Inman advanced from the Democratic primary for Arkansas Secretary of State on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Susan Inman

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Arkansas Secretary of State

John Thurston defeated Trevor Drown in the Republican primary for Arkansas Secretary of State on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John Thurston	52.6	100,794
		Trevor Drown	47.4	90,927

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 191,721
= 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.
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2016

See also: Arkansas House of Representatives elections, 2016

Ballotpedia's analysis revealed that only 42 of the 100 seats up for election in 2016 involved competition between Democrats and Republicans. This made it numerically impossible for Democrats to take control of either Arkansas legislative chamber in 2016.

The reason for the low competition was that candidates were in safe districts for their parties. Between 1972 and 2014, an upward trend in uncontested state legislative elections occurred.

The Democratic Party of Arkansas focused its 2016 efforts on the state’s House of Representatives. Without the numbers to win the state Senate, H.L. Moody, communications director for the Democratic Party of Arkansas, told Ballotpedia that the party’s goal was to “start building back where we can,” beginning with the House.

Ballotpedia spoke to political analyst Richard Winger, who said that the early primary deadline for the 2016 elections was a possible factor as well, making it difficult for Democrats to recruit candidates early.

The primary election was held on March 1, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing period began at noon local time on November 2, 2015, and ended at noon local time on November 9, 2015.

Incumbent Scott Baltz defeated Marsh Davis and Chris Olson in the Arkansas House of Representatives District 61 general election.

Arkansas House of Representatives, District 61 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Scott Baltz Incumbent	50.44%	5,559
	Republican	Marsh Davis	45.33%	4,996
	Libertarian	Chris Olson	4.24%	467
Total Votes				11,022
Source: Arkansas Secretary of State

Incumbent Scott Baltz ran unopposed in the Arkansas House of Representatives District 61 Democratic Primary.

Arkansas House of Representatives, District 61 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Scott Baltz Incumbent (unopposed)

Marsh Davis ran unopposed in the Arkansas House of Representatives District 61 Republican Primary.

Arkansas House of Representatives, District 61 Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Republican	Marsh Davis  (unopposed)

2014

See also: Arkansas Lieutenant Gubernatorial election, 2014

Olson ran for election to the office of Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas. He was nominated by delegates of the Arkansas Libertarian Party at the party's annual nominating convention on February 22, 2014.The general election took place on November 4, 2014.

Results

Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tim Griffin	57.2%	479,673
	Democratic	John Burkhalter	38.6%	324,260
	Libertarian	Chris Olson	4.2%	35,257
Total Votes				839,190
Election results via Arkansas Secretary of State

Race background

Debate over necessity of lieutenant governor's office

The office of Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas was vacant throughout 2014, prompting some state legislators and one lieutenant gubernatorial candidate to argue for abolishing the office or reducing related expenses. Libertarian candidate Chris Olson supported a significantly reduced budget for the office and lobbying the legislature to abolish the position. Tim Griffin (R) and John Burkhalter (D) indicated that they would use the office to support economic growth and vocational education.

Ballot access for political parties

See also: Ballot access requirements in Arkansas

In Arkansas, the process to establish a political party is tied to the votes cast in a presidential or gubernatorial election. In order to initially put candidates on the ballot, political parties must submit a petition with 10,000 signatures. In order to maintain that status beyond the election year in which they submit such a petition, their candidate for governor or president must receive at least 3 percent of the votes cast for that office.

In 2012, both the Libertarian and Green Parties of Arkansas qualified to put candidates on the ballot, but then their candidates did not receive enough votes for the parties to maintain their ballot status. In fall 2013, both parties submitted new petitions and were qualified to put candidates on the 2014 ballot. In order to maintain their status as political parties without needing to petition for the 2016 elections, their candidate for governor needed to receive at least 3 percent of the vote. Frank Gilbert (L) received 1.9 percent of the vote and Josh Drake (G) received 1.1 percent of the vote in the gubernatorial election.

Polls

Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas
Poll	Tim Griffin (R)	John Burkhalter (D)	Chris Olson (L)	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
Public Policy Polling September 18-21, 2014	42%	36%	4%	18%	+/-2.6	1,453
Public Policy Polling August 1-3, 2014	41%	32%	6%	21%	+/-3	1,066
AVERAGES	41.5%	34%	5%	19.5%	+/-2.8	1,259.5
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Christopher Olson has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Christopher Olson asking him to fill out the survey. If you are Christopher Olson, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

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You can ask Christopher Olson to fill out this survey by using the button below or emailing olson4arkansas@gmail.com.

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Christopher Olson campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2014	Arkansas Lieutenant Governor	Lost	$2,377	N/A**
Grand total			$2,377	N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Election Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

See also

2026 Elections

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Candidate

Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands

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Footnotes

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