Despite having lost against (the traitor) Blanche Lincoln in the runoff there are still some silver linings in the overall race that will lead to good things later on down the road.
We must remember this not as a defeat for progressives but a historic battle against the entrenched political machine in Arkansas. One that came within 4,000 votes of victory.
Despite having lost it seems the high amount of turn out Bill Halter brough to the polls seemed to allow some important Democratic figures to win in their own runoff elections.
Taking from the endorsements provided by Blue Arkansas we can see some of the candidates that were supported by the group.
Primarily in Ar-02 State Senator Joyce Elliot absolutely trounced the opposition candidate Robbie Wills by earning nearly 60% of the vote. She is on her way to becoming the first African American Woman to represent the state of Arkansas and as a champion of progressive causes a great one at that.
Meanwhile in the Land Commisioner race L.J. Bryant similiarly trounced Monty Davenport with 60% of the vote. LJ Bryant stands to bring long needed updates to our Land Commisions office by bringing technology to the forefront as the oposition refused to do so.
Pat O'Brien meanwhile mopped the floor with Mark Wilcox taking 65% of the vote. Mark represents the old school of blue dogs as the current leader of the Land Commision office and Pat O'Brien brings a new face to the scene. Pat O'Brien also strongly condemned the Garland voting fiasco promising to prevent any similiar events from occuring under his tenure.
Currently the outcome of the election between Chad Causey and conservative Democrat Tim Woolridgeis hovering between less than a percentage of difference and 300 votes with 80% of precincts reporting. Chad is a blue dog, and Tim is a republican. We'll see soon who wins this runoff.
Overall it's not the end of the world. Despite a major defeat we still have several strong candidates going into the November election and have the posibility of having our first Progressive state congresswoman in the form of Joyce Elliot. That in and of itself is something worth winning.
