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Tara Shephard
2023 - Present
2027
2
Tara Shephard (Democratic Party) is a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, representing District 79. She assumed office on January 9, 2023. Her current term ends on January 11, 2027.
Shephard (Democratic Party) is running for election to the Arkansas State Senate to represent District 15. She declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
Shephard was the Zone 6 representative on the Little Rock School District Board of Education in Arkansas from 2013 until January 29, 2015, when the board was dissolved by the Arkansas State Board of Education following poor academic performance in the district.[1]
Biography
Tara Shephard earned a B.A. in criminal justice from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 1998 and an M.A. in criminal justice and corrections from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2000.[2] Shephard's career experience includes founding Delta Community Based Services and working as its CEO, a drug and alcohol counselor, and a teacher.[2][3] She served on the board of directors of the Little Rock School District.[2]
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.
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
Shephard was assigned to the following committees:
- Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs Committee
- Public Transportation Committee
- Joint Budget Committee
- Joint Performance Review Committee
Elections
2026
See also: Arkansas State Senate elections, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Arkansas State Senate District 15
ShaRhonda Love and Tara Shephard are running in the general election for Arkansas State Senate District 15 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| ShaRhonda Love (D) | ||
 | Tara Shephard (D) | |
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2024
See also: Arkansas House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 79
Incumbent Tara Shephard won election in the general election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 79 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Tara Shephard (D) | 100.0 | 5,987 |
| Total votes: 5,987 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Tara Shephard advanced from the Democratic primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 79.
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Shephard in this election.
2022
See also: Arkansas House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 79
Tara Shephard won election in the general election for Arkansas House of Representatives District 79 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Tara Shephard (D) | 100.0 | 5,121 |
| Total votes: 5,121 | |||
| = 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
Democratic primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 79
Tara Shephard defeated Teresa Coney in the Democratic primary for Arkansas House of Representatives District 79 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Tara Shephard | 64.5 | 1,334 |
| Teresa Coney | 35.5 | 734 | ||
| Total votes: 2,068 | |||
| = 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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2013
Tara Shephard ran against two candidates, Tommy Branch Jr. and Florene Armstrong for the Zone 6 seat on the Little Rock School District School Board in the general election that was held on September 17, 2013. She faced and defeated Armstrong in a runoff election held on October 8, 2013.[4][5]
Results
Runoff election
| Little Rock School District Board of Directors Zone 6 Runoff Election, 3-year term, 2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Tara Shephard |
60.7% | 249 | |
| Nonpartisan | Florene Armstrong | 39.3% | 161 | |
| Total Votes | 410 | |||
| Source: Pulaski County Elections, "2013 Annual School Runoff Election Results," October 18, 2013 | ||||
General election
| Little Rock School District Board of Directors Zone 6 General Election, 3-year term, 2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Florene Armstrong | 34% | 157 | |
| Nonpartisan | Tommy Branch Jr. | 24.5% | 113 | |
| Nonpartisan | Tara Shephard | 41.6% | 192 | |
| Total Votes | 462 | |||
| Source: Pulaski County Election Commission These results are unofficial. | ||||
Funding
As of August 19, 2013, Shephard had not disclosed any campaign finance expenditures or contributions.[6]
Endorsements
Tara Shephard did not receive any official endorsements for her campaign.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
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You can ask Tara Shephard to fill out this survey by using the button below or emailing tara@taraforarkansas.com.
2024
Tara Shephard did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Tara Shephard did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 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]. |
|---|
|
In 2024, the Arkansas State Legislature was in session from April 10 to May 9.
|
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.
|
See also
2026 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Arkansas State Senate District 15 |
Officeholder Arkansas House of Representatives District 79 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Education Week, "Arkansas State Board Takes Over Little Rock School District," January 29, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 LinkedIn, "Tara Shephard," accessed March 31, 2023
- ↑ Facebook, "Middle School Initiative," accessed August 20, 2013
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedrunoff - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedrunoffresult - ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "Campaign Expenditure Search" accessed August 13, 2013
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Gary Deffenbaugh (R) |
Arkansas House of Representatives District 79 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Little Rock School District, Zone 6 2013-2015 |
Succeeded by - |
