SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS (AP) — Republican congressman Bruce Westerman has been elected to his third term to a U.S. House seat representing southern and western Arkansas.
Westerman is a former state lawmaker from Hot Springs. He defeated Hayden Shamel, who is chairwoman of the Garland County Democratic Party, and Libertarian Tom Canada in Tuesday’s contest. There were also 212 voters who wrote in candidates.
With 94 percent of the precincts reporting, the unofficial results were:
- Westerman 132,253 67%
- Shamel 61,718 31%
- Canada 3,828 2%
- Write-In 212 0.1%
Shamel, a teacher at Lakeside High School, made education and health care central to her campaign.
Westerman, who was first elected in 2014, has a graduate degree in forestry and serves as chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee.
The seat representing the sprawling 4th Congressional District had long been a Democratic stronghold but has been in Republican hands since 2012, when Tom Cotton was elected to Congress.
