David Wayne Wyatt (June 18, 1949 – January 12, 2015) was an American farmer, judge, and politician from Batesville, Arkansas, who served as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

in the

Arkansas Senate The Arkansas State Senate is the upper branch of the Arkansas General Assembly. The Senate consists of 35 members, each representing a district with about 83,000 people. Service in the state legislature is part-time, and many state senators have ...

for District 19 from January 14, 2013, to January 2015. Wyatt previously served in Senate District 12 from 2009 to 2013 and in the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the ...

for District 72 from 2005 to 2009.

Political career

A farmer and rancher and a judge for two decades in Independence County, Wyatt first stood as a candidate in 2004 for House District 72, after Chaney Taylor left the legislature. He won the May 18, 2004 Democratic

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

with 4,328 votes (77.5%) and was unopposed in the November 2, 2004 general election. In 2006 he was again unopposed in both the Democratic primary and the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. In 2008 he ran for the Arkansas Senate in District 12 after Jack Critcher left the legislature, leaving the seat open. He was unopposed in both the May 20, 2008 Democratic primary and the November 4, 2008 general election. In 2012 Wyatt was

redistricted Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each decennial census. The U.S. Constitution in Ar ...

to District 19, with Senator

Bill Sample Bill Sample (born April 16, 1946) is a state legislator in Arkansas. Career A Republican, he has served in the Arkansas Senate since 2011 representing Hot Springs. He served three terms in the Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas S ...

redistricted to District 14; Wyatt was unopposed in the May 22, 2012 Democratic primary and was elected in the November 6 general election, with 15,442 votes (51.2 percent) against

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

nominee

Linda Collins-Smith Linda F. Collins (April 17, 1962 – May 28, 2019; known as Linda Collins-Smith until her divorce) was an American businesswoman and politician who served a single term from 2015 to 2019 as a Republican member of the Arkansas Senate. On Jun ...

, who two years later was elected as his Senate successor after he declined to seek reelection.

Personal life and death

Wyatt and his wife, Deborah, had two children. After undergoing cancer treatment, he died on January 12, 2015, aged 65.

References

External links

Official page
at the

Arkansas General Assembly The General Assembly of Arkansas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house Arkansas Senate with 35 members, and the lower Arkansas House of Representatives with 100 ...

*
David Wyatt
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 ...

David W. Wyatt
at the National Institute on Money in State Politics 1949 births 2015 deaths Democratic Party Arkansas state senators Democratic Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives People from Batesville, Arkansas Farmers from Arkansas {{Arkansas-politician-stub