Editing Monroe County, Arkansas (section)

==Government==
[[File:Monroe County Courthouse 004.jpg|left|thumb|upright|The Monroe County Courthouse in Clarendon is the seat of county government]]
{{see also|Government of Arkansas|County judge|Quorum Court}}
The county government is a constitutional body granted specific powers by the [[Constitution of Arkansas]] and the [[Arkansas Code]]. The quorum court is the legislative branch of the county government and controls all spending and revenue collection. Representatives are called ''justices of the peace'' and are elected from county districts every even-numbered year. The number of districts in a county vary from nine to fifteen, and district boundaries are drawn by the county election commission. The Monroe County Quorum Court has nine members. Presiding over quorum court meetings is the ''county judge'', who serves as the [[chief operating officer]] of the county. The county judge is elected at-large and does not vote in quorum court business, although capable of vetoing quorum court decisions.<ref>{{ Cite encyclopedia |title= Quorum Courts |url= http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?search=1&entryID=6348 |encyclopedia= [[Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture]] |publisher= [[Butler Center for Arkansas Studies]] at the [[Central Arkansas Library System]] |date= March 24, 2014 |last= Teske |first= Steven |access-date= January 23, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{ Cite encyclopedia |title= Office of County Judge |url= http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=5720 |encyclopedia= [[Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture]] |publisher= Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System |date= August 28, 2015 |last= Goss |first= Kay C. |access-date= January 23, 2016 }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+Monroe County, Arkansas Elected countywide officials<ref>{{Cite web |title=Monroe {{!}} Association of Arkansas Counties |url=https://www.arcounties.org/counties/monroe/ |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=www.arcounties.org}}</ref><ref>https://www.arcounties.org/site/assets/files/6033/november_races.pdf</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Election Night Reporting |url=https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/AR/Monroe/115816/web.307039/#/summary?v=312715/ |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=results.enr.clarityelections.com}}</ref>
!Position
!Officeholder
!Party
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[County judge|County Judge]]
|P.K. Norman
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Municipal clerk|County Clerk]]
|Tina Wofford
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Court clerk|Circuit Clerk]]
|Alice Smith
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Sheriff]]
|Michael Neal
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Treasurer]]/[[Tax collector|Collector]]
|Steven Mitchell
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Tax assessment|Assessor]]
|Stacey Wilkerson
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Coroner]]
|Bob Neal
|Democratic
|}
The composition of the Quorum Court after the 2024 elections is 5 Republicans and 4 Democrats. Justices of the Peace (members) of the Quorum Court following the elections are:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Monroe {{!}} Association of Arkansas Counties |url=https://www.arcounties.org/counties/monroe/ |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=www.arcounties.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Monroe County, Arkansas, elections, 2024 |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Monroe_County,_Arkansas,_elections,_2024 |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=Ballotpedia |language=en}}</ref>

* District 1: Cathy Shelton (D)
* District 2: Jeffrey Lovell (R)
* District 3: Stephanie Sims (D)
* District 4: Kenneth Harvey Sr. (D)
* District 5: Ryan Medford (R)
* District 6: James Boston (R)
* District 7: Jimmy Rogers (R)
* District 8: Doug Mayhue (D)
* District 9: Alvin Beck (R)
Additionally, the townships of Monroe County are entitled to elect their own respective constables, as set forth by the [[Constitution of Arkansas]]. Constables are largely of historical significance as they were used to keep the peace in rural areas when travel was more difficult.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is a Constable? |url=https://www.uaex.uada.edu/business-communities/ced-blog/posts/2022/may/what-is-a-constable.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241213015100/https://www.uaex.uada.edu/business-communities/ced-blog/posts/2022/may/what-is-a-constable.aspx |archive-date=2024-12-13 |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=What is a Constable? |language=en}}</ref>

The township constables as of the 2024 elections are:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Monroe County, Arkansas, elections, 2024 |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Monroe_County,_Arkansas,_elections,_2024 |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=Ballotpedia |language=en}}</ref>

* Cache: Allan Spencer (R)
* Montgomery and Smalley: Terry Newsom (R)

===Politics===
A portion of Monroe County is represented in the [[Arkansas State Senate]] by the Republican [[Ron Caldwell (Arkansas politician)|Ronald R. Caldwell]], a [[real estate]] businessman from [[Wynne, Arkansas|Wynne]] in [[Cross County, Arkansas|Cross County]]. The [[Arkansas House of Representatives|state representative]] from Monroe County is a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], [[Marshall Wright (politician)|Marshall Wright]], a lawyer from [[Forrest City, Arkansas|Forrest City]] in [[St. Francis County, Arkansas|St. Francis County]].

Prior to 2000, Monroe was considered an "ancestral" Democratic county, with exceptions for the [[1972 United States presidential election|1972]] and [[1984 United States presidential election|1984]] landslides of [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Ronald Reagan]], respectively. Former Governor [[Bill Clinton]] won this county twice in his presidential runs: [[1992 United States presidential election|1992]] and [[1996 United States presidential election|1996]]. [[John Kerry]] won the county in [[2004 United States presidential election|2004]], the most recent Democrat to do so.

Over the past few election cycles Monroe has trended a bit more to the Republican Party, albeit with less fervor than its neighboring counties. [[Barack Obama]] lost the county by only two votes in his [[2012 United States presidential election|2012]] run, and former Arkansas First Lady [[Hillary Clinton]] lost it by more than six points, 51%-45%, in her [[2016 United States presidential election|2016]] race.

{{PresHead|place=Monroe County, Arkansas|source=<ref name="DL">{{cite web|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|access-date=November 18, 2016}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|1,385|1,002|46|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|1,545|1,147|124|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|1,489|1,312|83|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|1,585|1,583|62|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|1,754|1,615|80|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|1,586|2,049|32|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|1,329|1,910|54|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|973|2,247|238|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|1,324|2,578|370|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|1,862|2,052|58|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|2,508|2,413|50|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|2,027|2,686|116|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|1,285|3,556|7|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|2,897|1,578|91|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1968|American Independent|804|1,783|2,406|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|1,968|2,258|11|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|833|1,856|379|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|1,099|1,460|75|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|947|1,834|0|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|299|1,431|620|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|291|1,311|4|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|128|1,494|2|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|82|1,102|3|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|170|1,753|12|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|411|851|1|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|330|838|101|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|912|834|30|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|508|741|0|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|400|537|277|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|1,022|912|48|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1904|Democratic|555|757|14|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|403|708|0|Arkansas}}
{{PresFoot|1896|Democratic|436|1,019|137|Arkansas}}