Editing Conway County, Arkansas (section)

==Government and Politics==

=== Government & Local Politics ===
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 Conway County Quorum Court has eleven members. Presiding over quorum court meetings is the county judge, who serves as the chief executive 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 web |title=Quorum Courts |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/quorum-courts-6348/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Office of County Judge |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/office-of-county-judge-5720/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Democratic Party continued to win all local county and city elected offices until 2018, when two members of the Republican Party were elected: Keith Long as [[Justice of the peace]] and Dennis Decker as County Coroner.

In the [[2022 United States elections|2022 midterm elections]], the county government flipped red, with Republicans winning all but three contested seats. Additionally, four Republicans were newly elected as new justices of the peace, the party flipped three Morrilton City Council seats –&nbsp;including Isaac Decker, who became the youngest to ever be elected, at age 20 – and the Oppelo Mayoral race.

In May 2023 the Morrilton City Council voted to turn the municipal offices to a non-partisan designation allowing for the mayor, city clerk, and council members to run as independents.
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+Conway County, Arkansas Elected Countywide Officials<ref>{{Cite web |title=Conway {{!}} Association of Arkansas Counties |url=https://www.arcounties.org/counties/conway/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=www.arcounties.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Conway County, Arkansas |url=https://conwaycountyar.com/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Conway County, Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Election Night Reporting |url=https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/AR/Conway/115783/web.307039/#/summary?v=313964/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=results.enr.clarityelections.com}}</ref><ref>https://www.arcounties.org/site/assets/files/6033/november_races.pdf</ref>
!Position
!Officeholder
!Party
|-style="background-color: #999999;
|[[County judge|County Judge]]
|Jimmy Hart
|Independent
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Municipal clerk|County Clerk]]
|Kathy Kordsmeier
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Court clerk|Circuit Clerk]]
|Darlene Massingill
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Sheriff]]
|Mike Smith
|Democratic
|-
|[[Treasurer]]
|Carl Birkner
|(Unknown)
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Tax collector|Collector]]
|Norbert Gunderman
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Tax assessment|Assessor]]
|Mark Stobaugh
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #F48882;
|[[Coroner]]
|Dennis B. Decker
|Republican
|}
The composition of the Quorum Court following the 2024 elections is 7 [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] and 4 Democrats. Justices of the Peace (members) of the Quorum Court following the elections are:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Conway County, Arkansas, elections, 2024 |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Conway_County,_Arkansas,_elections,_2024 |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Ballotpedia |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-12-04 |title=Quorum Court |url=https://conwaycountyar.com/home/quorum-court/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Conway County, Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Election Night Reporting |url=https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/AR/Conway/122518/web.345435/#/summary?v=355300/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=results.enr.clarityelections.com |language=en}}</ref>

* District 1: Philip Hoyt (D) of Perry.
* District 2: Patrick Hartman (R) of Hattieville.
* District 3: Steven Davenport (R) of Cleveland.
* District 4: Thomas A. Flowers (D) of Center Ridge.
* District 5: Keith Long (R) of Solgohachia.
* District 6: Brigham Jones (R) of Morrilton.
* District 7: Johnathan Ray Trafford (R) of Morrilton.
* District 8: Michael Hammons (D) of Morrilton.
* District 9: John David Trafford Jr. (R) of Morrilton.
* District 10: Leslie Griffiths (R) of Morrilton.
* District 11: Jimmy Miller (D) of Plumerville.

Additionally, the townships of Conway 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 |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=What is a Constable? |language=en}}</ref> The township constables as of the 2024 elections are:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Conway County, Arkansas, elections, 2024 |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Conway_County,_Arkansas,_elections,_2024 |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Ballotpedia |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Election Night Reporting |url=https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/AR/Conway/119882/web.317647/#/summary?v=333305/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=results.enr.clarityelections.com |language=en}}</ref>

* Cedar Falls: Thomas William Barber (D)
* Griffin: Alex Campbell (R)
* Washington: John Gordon (R)
* Welbourne: Shane Engebrecht (R)

=== Federal Politics ===
For the bulk of the 20th century, Conway County was reliably Democratic, voting solidly for the party in every presidential election except for the [[1972 United States presidential election in Arkansas|1972]] and [[1984 United States presidential election in Arkansas|1984]] landslides of [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Ronald Reagan]], respectively. Former Governor [[Bill Clinton]] won the county twice in his [[1992 United States presidential election in Arkansas|1992]] and [[1996 United States presidential election in Arkansas|1996]] victories while comfortably sweeping his native Arkansas.

As is the case with most rural counties as well as the state of Arkansas as a whole since the turn of the millennium, Conway County has turned sharply rightward and away from a more socially liberal Democratic Party than the one Clinton led. Though Republican [[George W. Bush]] won the county by less than 1% in [[2000 United States presidential election in Arkansas|2000]] and [[2004 United States presidential election in Arkansas|2004]], both Conway County and Arkansas would become safely red at the presidential level starting in [[2008 United States presidential election in Arkansas|2008]], despite Democrat [[Barack Obama]] decisively winning the election.

In [[2016 United States presidential election in Arkansas|2016]], Republican [[Donald Trump]] won Conway County with 61% of the vote and a 28.6% margin of victory over former [[First Lady of Arkansas]] and [[First Lady of the United States|the U.S.]] [[Hillary Clinton]], owing both to Trump's strength in [[Rural America]] and the decline of the Clinton brand in their home state. Trump would top his vote share and margin of victory in the county twice since then, winning with a 35.4% margin of victory and more than 65% of the vote over Democrat [[Joe Biden]] in [[2020 United States presidential election in Arkansas|2020]] (despite Biden winning nationwide), followed by a 40.3% margin of victory and 69% vote share as he reclaimed the Presidency in [[2024 United States presidential election in Arkansas|2024]], the latter of which stands as the best performance for a Republican presidential candidate in county history.