UPDATE:
State Rep. Bruce Westerman won the Republican nomination to the 4th Congressional District seat over Tommy Moll Tuesday night.
The final, unofficial results from the Arkansas secretary of state's office were: Moll, 15,359, and Westerman, 18,431.
In Garland County, the final, unofficial total showed Moll, 2,681, to Westerman, 7,007.
ORIGINAL STORY:
House Majority Leader Bruce Westerman, R-District 22, held a slight lead over Tommy Moll in the Republican primary for the 4th Congressional District, according results posted by the Arkansas secretary of state's office at presstime Tuesday night.
Based on preliminary voting numbers from the secretary of state's office at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Westerman was leading with 2,873 votes, or 51 percent, compared to 2,798 votes, or 49 percent, for Moll.
The seat is currently held by Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, who is running against incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor.
Moll, who moved to Hot Springs last year from New York, was a first-time candidate but was able to use a significant fundraising advantage in the final two weeks to air a television advertisement critical of Westerman's "plan to implement Obamacare in Arkansas."
Westerman has said the ads were lies and that he never supported "Obamacare." The Westerman campaign also released a Feb. 12 letter signed by Arkansas legislators that said "Anyone who claims that Bruce Westerman was anything but an ardent opponent of Obamacare is misleading the people of Arkansas."
The winner will face Democratic candidate James Lee Witt, a former Yell County Judge and Federal Emergency Management Agency Director under former President Bill Clinton. Libertarian candidate, Ken Hamilton, is also running.
Both campaigns circulated high-profile endorsements recently.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette endorsed Westerman , saying he "was one of Arkansas' leading opponents of this state's adaptation of Obamacare -- it's called the Private Option -- and fought against it vigorously once he took a close look at it, which didn't take him long."
Moll was endorsed by 2012 by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Mitt Romney's running mate in 2012.
"Tommy Moll knows how to get our nation back on track, and if he's elected to Congress, he'll be a conservative we can count on," Ryan said. "He will vote to repeal Obamacare, balance the budget, and protect the founding principles that make America great."
Local on 05/21/2014