Aaron Cash
Aaron Scott Cash was a Libertarian candidate for Attorney General of Arkansas in the 2014 elections.[1]
Aaron Cash lost the general election on November 4, 2014.
Elections
2014
- See also: Arkansas attorney general election, 2014
Cash ran unsuccessfully for election to the office of Attorney General of Arkansas.[1] He faced Leslie Rutledge (R) and Nate Steel (D) in the general election. The general election took place on November 4, 2014.
Results
| Attorney General of Arkansas, 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Leslie Rutledge |
51.6% | 430,799 | |
| Democratic | Nate Steel | 43.2% | 360,680 | |
| Libertarian | Aaron Cash | 5.2% | 43,245 | |
| Total Votes | 834,724 | |||
| Election results via Arkansas Secretary of State | ||||
Race background
In December 2013, the attorney general race was given its second consecutive "toss-up" rating by Governing. In March 2013, the open seat—held by term-limited Democrat Dustin McDaniel—was first rated vulnerable to partisan switch in the 2014 elections. Shortly before the March rating came out, McDaniel admitted to an extramarital affair in his attorney general tenure. As a result, McDaniel ended a long-anticipated campaign for the governor's office, which was open in 2014 due to incumbent Gov. Mike Beebe hitting term limits.[2]
Ballot access for political parties
In Arkansas, the process to establish a political party is tied to the votes cast in a presidential or gubernatorial election. In order to initially put candidates on the ballot, political parties must submit a petition with 10,000 signatures. Then, in order to maintain that status beyond the election year in which they submit such a petition, their candidate for governor or president must receive at least three percent of the votes cast for that office.[3][4]
In 2012, both the Libertarian and Green parties of Arkansas qualified to put candidates on the ballot, but then their candidates did not receive enough votes for the parties to maintain their ballot status. In the fall of 2013, both parties submitted new petitions and were qualified to put candidates on the 2014 ballot.[5][6][7] In order to maintain their status as political parties without needing to petition for the 2016 elections, their candidates for governor needed to receive at least 3 percent of the vote. Frank Gilbert (L) received 1.9 percent of the gubernatorial vote, and Josh Drake (G) earned 1.1 percent of the vote.[8]
Primary election
Five candidates—three Republican, one Democratic and one Libertarian—filed for the election to replace McDaniel. A primary was held on May 20 to decide which of the three Republican hopefuls would move on to the general election with the party's nomination. Neither Leslie Rutledge nor David Sterling, both lawyers from Little Rock, received a sufficient share of the vote to avoid a primary runoff election on June 10.
Rutledge and Sterling both ran on their legal resumes and past efforts to support conservative causes. Rutledge said she was “the only one with experience fighting crime, the only one with experience fighting the overreaching federal government.” Sterling, meanwhile, said his federal court experience made him the superior candidate. “The AG’s office is essentially Arkansas’ largest law firm, and I think that the voters want a serious and responsible and experienced attorney leading that law firm,” Sterling said.[9]
Rutledge ultimately defeated Sterling in the Republican primary runoff, earning over 58 percent of the vote.[10] She faced unopposed Democratic nominee Nate Steel and Libertarian Aaron Cash in the general election on November 4.
Questions over Rutledge's voter registration
In late September, Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane (D) revoked Rutledge's voter registration because she was also registered in Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Rutledge criticized Crane's decision as a political maneuver and said in an interview with the Arkansas News Bureau, "There are consequences related to gender when it comes to women in politics, particularly, we know, when they run for traditionally quote-unquote masculine offices, and the attorney general's office is one of those."[11][11][12]
Polls
| Attorney General of Arkansas | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Leslie Rutledge (R) | Nate Steel (D) | Aaron Cash (L) | Undecided | Margin of error | Sample size | |||||||||||||
| Public Policy Polling September 18-21, 2014 | 41% | 35% | 7% | 17% | +/-2.6 | 1,453 | |||||||||||||
| Public Policy Polling August 1-3, 2014 | 38% | 32% | 10% | 20% | +/-3 | 1,066 | |||||||||||||
| AVERAGES | 39.5% | 33.5% | 8.5% | 18.5% | +/-2.8 | 1,259.5 | |||||||||||||
| Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org. | |||||||||||||||||||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Aaron + Cash + Attorney + General + Arkansas"
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Arkansas Secretary of State, "2014 Preferential Primary Elections & Non Partisan General Election, Aaron Scott Cash," accessed March 3, 2014
- ↑ Governing, "The 2013-2014 Attorneys General Races: Who's Vulnerable?" March 25, 2013
- ↑ Arkansas Code, "Title 7, Section 1-101-21," accessed December 3, 2013
- ↑ Arkansas House Bill 2036, "An Act To Amend the Law Concerning Certain Procedural Dates In Election; To Amend the Law Concerning Certain Petitions; And For Other Purposes," Approved April 18, 2013
- ↑ Libertarian Party of Arkansas Website, "History of the Libertarian Party of Arkansas," accessed December 5, 2013
- ↑ Green Party of Arkansas Website, "Ballot Access," accessed December 5, 2013
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin, "New Political Party Petition--Green Party," November 6, 2013
- ↑ UALR Public Radio, "Poll: Ross, Hutchinson In Virtual Dead Heat In Governor’s Race," April 6, 2014
- ↑ Arkansas News, "GOP attorney general hopefuls to face off in Tuesday’s runoff election," June 7, 2014
- ↑ newsobserver.com, "Rutledge wins GOP nomination for attorney general," June 10, 2014
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Times Record, "Election 2014: Arkansas AG Candidate Claims Gender Bias," October 5, 2014
- ↑ Times Record, "Ethics Complaint Against Arkansas Attorney General Dismissed," January 24, 2015
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