The 2014 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2014, to elect the

governor of Arkansas The governor of Arkansas is the head of government of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Governor (United States), governor is the head of the Executive (government), executive branch of the Politics and government of Arkansas, Arkansas government a ...

, concurrently with the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

to Arkansas's Class II U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

in other states and elections to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

and various state and local elections. This was the last time the Arkansas governor's changed partisan control. Incumbent Democratic governor

Mike Beebe Mickey Dale Beebe (; born December 28, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the List of governors of Arkansas, 45th governor of Arkansas from 2007 to 2015. He is to date the last Democrat to hold that office. Born in Amagon ...

was ineligible to run for re-election due to

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of Term of office, terms a Incumbent, person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in Presidential system, presidential and Semi-presidential republic, semi-president ...

established by the

Arkansas Constitution The Constitution of Arkansas is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of Arkansas delineating the duties, powers, structures, and functions of the state government. Arkansas' original constitution was adopted at a constitutional conv ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

is one of eight states that limits its governors to two terms for life. Democrats nominated former U.S. representative Mike Ross and Republicans nominated former

DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domes ...

Administrator, former U.S. representative and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Arkansas gubernatorial nominee

Asa Hutchinson William Asa Hutchinson II (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, AY-sə''; born December 3, 1950) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 46th governor of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Part ...

. Hutchinson won the general election by the largest margin recorded for a Republican in an open-seat gubernatorial race since Reconstruction, a record held until 2022. The race was called for Hutchinson roughly half an hour after the polls closed; his victory gave Republicans complete control of state government for the first time since 1874. This was the only Democratic-held governorship up for election in a state that

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

won in the

2012 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

* Mike Ross, former U.S. representative

Eliminated in primary

* Lynette "Doc" Bryant, activist

Withdrew

Bill Halter William A. Halter Jr (born November 30, 1960) is an American politician who served as the 18th lieutenant governor of Arkansas from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to succeed the late Republican Winthrop Paul Roc ...

, former

lieutenant governor of Arkansas The lieutenant governor of Arkansas is the second-highest constitutional and elected office in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The lieutenant governor is the first in the Gubernatorial lines of succession in the United States#Arkansas, gubernatorial ...

and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010 (''endorsed Ross'') *

Dustin McDaniel Dustin Blake McDaniel (born April 29, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 55th Attorney General of Arkansas from 2007 to 2015. McDaniel is the co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s State Attorneys General Group. He is also th ...

Arkansas Attorney General The attorney general of Arkansas, usually known simply as the attorney general (AG), is one of Arkansas's seven constitutional officers. The officeholder serves as the state's top law enforcement officer and consumer advocate. History The at ...

Declined

* Shane Broadway, interim director of the Department of Higher Education and former state senator * John Burkhalter, former State Highway Commissioner ''( running for Lieutenant Governor)'' * Conner Eldridge,

U.S. Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the Western District of Arkansas *

G. David Gearhart G. David Gearhart (born June 9, 1952) was the fifth chancellor of the University of Arkansas. He succeeded John A. White on July 1, 2008, following 10 years of service to the university in his capacity as vice chancellor for university advancement. ...

, chancellor of the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

Pat Hays Patrick Henry Hays (January 8, 1947 – October 4, 2023) was an American lawyer and politician from the state of Arkansas. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served in the Arkansas House of Representatives fr ...

, former mayor of

North Little Rock North Little Rock (often abbreviated "NLR") is a city in Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States. Located on the north side of the Arkansas River, it is the twin city of Little Rock. In the late nineteenth century, it was annexed by Little Ro ...

( ''running for U.S. House'') *

Keith Ingram Keith M. Ingram (born April 12, 1955) is an American politician from the state of Arkansas. A member of the Democratic Party, Ingram represents the 24th district in the Arkansas Senate, of which he is the Minority Leader. Ingram's district incl ...

, state senator (''endorsed Ross'') *

Bruce Maloch Bruce Maloch ( ; born June 29, 1957) is an attorney and politician in South Arkansas. Education and personal life Maloch was raised on a farm near Emerson, Arkansas. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Agricultural Business fr ...

, state senator * Michael Malone, president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council *

Vic Snyder Victor Frederick Snyder (born September 27, 1947) is an American physician, lawyer, and politician who was the U.S. representative for from 1997 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He served in the United States Marine Corps duri ...

, former U.S. representative * Paul Suskie, former chairman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission and candidate for

Attorney General of Arkansas The attorney general of Arkansas, usually known simply as the attorney general (AG), is one of Arkansas's seven State constitutional officer, constitutional officers. The officeholder serves as the state's top law enforcement officer and Consu ...

* Chris Thomason, chancellor of the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope and former state representative * Robert F. Thompson, state senator (''endorsed Ross'') *

Darrin Williams Darrin L. Williams is an American lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Arkansas. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Williams is a former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from District 36. H ...

, state representative, former speaker of the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

, former administrator of the

, former U.S. representative and nominee for governor in 2006

Eliminated in primary

* Curtis Coleman, founder of a

food safety Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, food processing, preparation, and food storage, storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a simi ...

company and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010

Withdrew

* Debra Hobbs, state representative ( ''running for Lieutenant Governor'')

Declined

Davy Carter Russell Davis Carter, known as Davy Carter (born March 31, 1975), is the Republican former Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives, a position which he held from 2013 to 2015. A resident of Cabot in Lonoke County, Carter represented D ...

, Speaker of the

Tom Cotton Thomas Bryant Cotton (born May 13, 1977) is an American politician and United States Army, Army veteran serving since 2015 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Arkansas. A memb ...

, U.S. representative for

Arkansas's 4th congressional district Arkansas's 4th congressional district is a congressional district located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Notable towns in the district include Camden, Arkansas, Camden, Hope, Arkansas, Hope, Hot Springs, Arkansas, Hot ...

(2013–2015) ( ''running for the U.S. Senate'') * Rick Crawford, U.S. representative for

Arkansas's 1st congressional district Arkansas's 1st congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in eastern Arkansas that elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. It is currently represented by Republican Rick Crawford. With a Cook Parti ...

(2011–present) * Mark Darr, former

, chancellor of the

Tim Griffin John Timothy Griffin (born August 21, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas, attorney general of Arkansas. He served as the 20th Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas, lieutenant governor of Arkans ...

, U.S. representative for

Arkansas's 2nd congressional district Arkansas's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district located in the central part of the U.S. state of Arkansas and includes most of the state capital of Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock, its suburbs, and surrounding areas. The dist ...

(2011–2015) ( ''running for Lieutenant Governor'') *

Missy Irvin Missy Thomas Irvin (born February 12, 1971) is a Republican Party of Arkansas, Republican member of the Arkansas Senate, where she has served since 2011. Irvin is a member of the Senate Ethics Committee. In 2019, Irvin and the committee censu ...

, state senator *

Jim Keet James Holland Keet (born May 12, 1949), is an American restaurateur and politician in Little Rock, Arkansas, and a former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives and Arkansas Senate. Keet was the Republican nominee for governor of Arkan ...

, former state senator and nominee for governor in 2010 * Johnny Key, state senator *

Mark Martin Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959), nicknamed "the Kid", is an American former stock car racing driver. He most notably drove the No. 6 Ford Motor Company, Ford for Roush Racing for the majority of his career. From 1989 to 2009, Martin wo ...

Secretary of State of Arkansas The Arkansas Secretary of State is one of the elected constitutional officers of the U.S. State of Arkansas. The current Secretary of State is Republican Cole Jester who was appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders after John Thurston be ...

('' running for re-election'') *

Sheffield Nelson Edward Sheffield Nelson (born April 23, 1941) is an American attorney, businessman and politician from the capital city of Little Rock, Arkansas. Originally a Democrat, Nelson in 1990 ran for governor of Arkansas as a Republican against then g ...

, businessman and nominee for governor in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Steve Womack Stephen Allen Womack ( ; born February 18, 1957) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2011. The district, which was once represented by former Senator J. William Fulbright, covers much of northwestern Arkans ...

, U.S. representative

Arkansas's 3rd congressional district Arkansas's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The district covers Northwest Arkansas and takes in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville, Springdale, Arkansas, Sp ...

(2011–present)

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Third parties

Candidates

Declared

* Josh Drake (

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

), attorney and nominee for

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

* Frank Gilbert (

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

), DeKalb Township Constable, former mayor of Tull and nominee for the state senate in 2012

Declined

(

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

), businessman and Republican nominee for governor in

and

General election

Debates

Complete video of debate
September 19, 2014 -

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

Complete video of debate
October 7, 2014 -

Predictions

Polling

Results

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

References

External links

Arkansas gubernatorial election, 2014
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Official campaign websites (archived):
Mike Ross (D) for Governor
*
Frank Gilbert (L) for GovernorJosh Drake (G) for Governor
{{Portal bar, 2010s, Politics, United States

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

November 2014 in the United States May 2014 in the United States