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Sonia Eubanks Barker
2023 - Present
2027
2
Sonia Eubanks Barker (Republican Party) is a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, representing District 96. She assumed office on January 9, 2023. Her current term ends on January 11, 2027.
Barker (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Arkansas House of Representatives to represent District 96. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Sonia Eubanks Barker lives in Smackover, Arkansas. Barker earned a degree from Southern Arkansas University. Her career experience includes working as a high school teacher. Barker has been affiliated with the National Rifle Association and Conservative Arkansas.[1]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Barker was assigned to the following committees:
- Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs Committee, Chair
- House Education Committee
- Joint Energy Committee
- Legislative Joint Auditing Committee
2021-2022
Barker was assigned to the following committees:
- Public Transportation Committee
- Joint Energy Committee
- Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs Committee, Vice-chair
2019-2020
Barker was assigned to the following committees:
- Academic Facilities Oversight Committee
- Joint Performance Review Committee
- Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs Committee, Vice Chairperson
- Public Transportation Committee
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Arkansas committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs |
| • Education |
| • Joint Performance Review |
| • Joint Performance Review |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Arkansas House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 96
Incumbent Sonia Eubanks Barker defeated Robin Roark in the general election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 96 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Sonia Eubanks Barker (R) | 72.8 | 8,990 |
 | Robin Roark (D)  | 27.2 | 3,358 | |
| Total votes: 12,348 | |||
| = 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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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 96
Robin Roark defeated Horace Charles in the Democratic primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 96 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Robin Roark | 52.7 | 375 |
 | Horace Charles | 47.3 | 336 | |
| Total votes: 711 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Sonia Eubanks Barker advanced from the Republican primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 96.
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Barker in this election.
2022
See also: Arkansas House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 96
Incumbent Sonia Eubanks Barker won election in the general election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 96 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sonia Eubanks Barker (R) | 100.0 | 15,466 |
| Total votes: 15,466 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Sonia Eubanks Barker advanced from the Republican primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 96.
2020
See also: Arkansas House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 7
Incumbent Sonia Eubanks Barker defeated George Calloway Jr. in the general election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 7 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sonia Eubanks Barker (R) | 59.9 | 6,239 |
 | George Calloway Jr. (D) | 40.1 | 4,174 | |
| Total votes: 10,413 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. George Calloway Jr. advanced from the Democratic primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 7.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Sonia Eubanks Barker advanced from the Republican primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 7.
2018
General election
The general election was canceled. Incumbent Sonia Eubanks Barker won election in the general election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 7.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 7
Incumbent Sonia Eubanks Barker advanced from the Republican primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 7 on May 22, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Sonia Eubanks Barker |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
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.[2] Incumbent John Baine (D) did not seek re-election.
Sonia Eubanks Barker defeated Floyd Thomas, Jr. and Glenn Glover in the Arkansas House of Representatives District 7 general election.[3]
| Arkansas House of Representatives, District 7 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Sonia Eubanks Barker |
54.80% | 5,606 | |
| Democratic | Floyd Thomas, Jr. | 37.41% | 3,827 | |
| Independent | Glenn Glover | 7.78% | 796 | |
| Total Votes | 10,229 | |||
| Source: Arkansas Secretary of State | ||||
Floyd Thomas, Jr. defeated Garry Smith in the Arkansas House of Representatives District 7 Democratic Primary.[4][5]
| Arkansas House of Representatives, District 7 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Floyd Thomas, Jr. |
61.01% | 2,042 | |
| Democratic | Garry Smith | 38.99% | 1,305 | |
| Total Votes | 3,347 | |||
Sonia Eubanks Barker ran unopposed in the Arkansas House of Representatives District 7 Republican Primary.[4][5]
| Arkansas House of Representatives, District 7 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | Sonia Eubanks Barker (unopposed) | |
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Sonia Eubanks Barker did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Sonia Eubanks Barker did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Sonia Eubanks Barker did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
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.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Arkansas scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Arkansas State Legislature was in session from April 10 to May 9.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Arkansas State Legislature was in session from January 9 to May 1.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Arkansas State Legislature was in session from February 14 to March 15.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Arkansas State Legislature was in session from January 11 to October 15.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Arkansas State Legislature was in session from April 8 to April 24.
|
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Arkansas State Legislature was in session from January 14 through April 24.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Arkansas State Legislature was in session from February 12 through March 12. The legislature held a special session from March 13 to March 15.
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2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the 91st Arkansas State Legislature was in session from January 9 through May 1. The Legislature held a special session from May 1 to May 3.
|
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Arkansas House of Representatives District 96 |
Officeholder Arkansas House of Representatives District 96 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Arkansas House of Representatives, "Sonia Eubanks Barker," accessed April 3, 2023
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "2016 Election Dates," accessed November 17, 2015
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "2016 General Election and Nonpartisan Runoff Election," accessed November 23, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Arkansas Secretary of State, "Candidate Information," accessed July 25, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Arkansas Secretary of State, "2016 Primary Election Results," accessed April 19, 2016
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Joshua Bryant (R) |
Arkansas House of Representatives District 96 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Arkansas House of Representatives District 7 2017-2023 |
Succeeded by Brit McKenzie (R) |
