ARKANSAS (KFSM) — An Arkansas Supreme Court justice has won re-election after facing a barrage of attack ads and mailers from a Washington-based conservative group.
Justice Courtney Goodson defeated challenger and Department of Human Services Chief Counsel David Sterling in the non-partisan race.
With 96 percent of the precincts reporting, the unofficial results were:
- Goodson 452,308 56%
- Sterling 360,614 44%
The Republican State Leadership Committee spent $1.2 million on TV ads and mailers in the weeks leading up to the election. Goodson portrayed her re-election bid as a referendum on outside groups’ involvement in judicial races. She had sued to stop the RSLC’s mailers and ads. She lost her bid for chief justice two years ago after facing similar outside attacks.
The group also had run ads promoting Sterling that linked him to President Donald Trump and Gov. Asa Hutchinson.