United States Senate election in Arkansas, 2026

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← 2022
U.S. Senate, Arkansas
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: Pending
Primary: Pending General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Voting in Arkansas
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Republican DDHQ and The Hill: Pending 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, 2026
See also
U.S. Senate, Arkansas U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th Arkansas elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 Alabama U.S. Senate raceAlaska U.S. Senate raceArkansas U.S. Senate raceColorado U.S. Senate raceDelaware U.S. Senate raceGeorgia U.S. Senate raceIdaho U.S. Senate raceIllinois U.S. Senate raceIowa U.S. Senate raceKansas U.S. Senate raceKentucky U.S. Senate raceLouisiana U.S. Senate raceMaine U.S. Senate raceMassachusetts U.S. Senate raceMichigan U.S. Senate raceMinnesota U.S. Senate raceMississippi U.S. Senate raceMontana U.S. Senate raceNebraska U.S. Senate raceNew Hampshire U.S. Senate raceNew Jersey U.S. Senate raceNew Mexico U.S. Senate raceNorth Carolina U.S. Senate raceOklahoma U.S. Senate raceOregon U.S. Senate raceRhode Island U.S. Senate raceSouth Carolina U.S. Senate raceSouth Dakota U.S. Senate raceTennessee U.S. Senate raceTexas U.S. Senate raceVirginia U.S. Senate raceWest Virginia U.S. Senate raceWyoming U.S. Senate raceSubmit

Voters in Arkansas will elect one member to the U.S. Senate in the general election on November 3, 2026. The election will fill the Class II Senate seat held by Tom Cotton (R), who first took office in 2015. To learn more about other elections on the ballot, click here.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. Senate Arkansas

Incumbent Tom Cotton, Ethan Dunbar, and Dan Whitfield are running in the general election for U.S. Senate Arkansas on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Tom Cotton (R)
	Submit photo	Ethan Dunbar (D)
		Dan Whitfield (D)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= 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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Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Arkansas

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Dan Whitfield
• Tom Cotton

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Tom Cotton	Republican Party	$9,828,918	$7,237,020	$8,988,851	As of June 30, 2025
Ethan Dunbar	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Hallie Shoffner	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Dan Whitfield	Democratic Party	$2,157	$194	$1,972	As of June 30, 2025
Marcus Walker	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. 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.

General election 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.
• 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.

Race ratings: U.S. Senate election in Arkansas, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	9/2/2025	8/26/2025	8/19/2025	8/12/2025
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
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 reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access

This section will contain information on ballot access related to this state's elections when it is available.

Election history

The section below details election results for this state's U.S. Senate elections dating back to 2016.

2022

See also: United States Senate election in Arkansas, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Arkansas

Incumbent John Boozman defeated Natalie James, Kenneth Cates, Richard Gant, and James Garner in the general election for U.S. Senate Arkansas on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John Boozman (R)	65.7	592,437
		Natalie James (D)	31.1	280,187
		Kenneth Cates (L)	3.2	28,682
		Richard Gant (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	0
		James Garner (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	0

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 901,306
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Stuart Shirrell (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Arkansas

Natalie James defeated Dan Whitfield and Jack Foster in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Arkansas on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Natalie James	54.1	49,722
		Dan Whitfield	30.8	28,319
	Submit photo	Jack Foster	15.1	13,891

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 91,932
= 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

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Arkansas

Incumbent John Boozman defeated Jake Bequette, Jan Morgan, and Heath Loftis in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Arkansas on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John Boozman	58.0	201,677
		Jake Bequette	20.7	71,809
		Jan Morgan	19.0	65,958
		Heath Loftis	2.3	8,112

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 347,556
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Michael Deel (R)

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. Senate Arkansas

Kenneth Cates advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. Senate Arkansas on February 20, 2022.

		Candidate
✔		Kenneth Cates (L)

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= 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.

2020

See also: United States Senate election in Arkansas, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Arkansas

Incumbent Tom Cotton defeated Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. in the general election for U.S. Senate Arkansas on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Cotton (R)	66.5	793,871
		Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. (L)	33.5	399,390

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,193,261
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Dan Whitfield (Independent)

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Joshua Mahony (D)

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Tom Cotton advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Arkansas.

2016

See also: United States Senate election in Arkansas, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated Arkansas' U.S. Senate race as safely Republican. Incumbent John Boozman (R) defeated Conner Eldridge (D), Frank Gilbert (L) and write-in candidate Jason Tate in the general election on November 8, 2016. Boozman defeated Curtis Coleman in the Republican primary on March 1, 2016.

U.S. Senate, Arkansas General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	John Boozman Incumbent	59.8%	661,984
	Democratic	Connor Eldridge	36.2%	400,602
	Libertarian	Frank Gilbert	4%	43,866
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	1,070
Total Votes				1,107,522
Source: Arkansas Secretary of State

U.S. Senate, Arkansas Republican Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
John Boozman Incumbent	76.5%	298,039
Curtis Coleman	23.5%	91,795
Total Votes		389,834
Source: Arkansas Secretary of State

Election analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this state's elections when those are available.

See also

Arkansas	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
Arkansas congressional delegation Voting in Arkansas Arkansas elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

Arkansas' current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

John Boozman (R)

Tom Cotton (R)

Representatives

District 1

Rick Crawford (R)

District 2

French Hill (R)

District 3

Steve Womack (R)

District 4

Bruce Westerman (R)

Republican Party (6)

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