By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Longtime Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines gets another term, Sheriff Doc Holladay gets to wear the badge for another round and the Sherwood City Council will see one new face.
With 100 percent of the Pulaski County vote counted Tuesday night, Democrat Villines bested Republican Phil Wyrick 89,700 votes, or 59 percent, to 62,588, or 41 percent.
In the sheriff’s race, Democrat Holladay retained his job by about a 3-to-1 margin over his Republican challenger, Patrick Mulligan. Holladay received 111,211 votes, or 74 percent, to Mulligan’s 39,679, or 26 percent.
For state representative, Dist. 42, which covers a portion of Jacksonville and north Pulaski County, Republican Jane English bested two other candidates, Democrat Val Yagos and Green Party member Gene Mason to take the open seat.
English received 3,243 votes, or 55 percent, to Yagos’ 2,414, or 41 percent and Mason’s 228 votes, or 4 percent.
For the Dist. 43 seat, which covers a large segment of Sherwood, Democrat Jim Nickels squeezed passed Republican Steven Meckfessel for that open seat.
Green Party member Richard Carroll defeated two write-in candidates to grab the open state representative Dist. 39 seat, which covers a large section of North Little Rock and portions of the county.
Mark Perry was unopposed for the open state representative Dist. 44 seat, which covers portions of Sherwood and the county.
Pulaski County Clerk Pat O’Brien was also unopposed for his job.
In Sherwood, there will be one new face on the council, Kevin Lilly, who ran unopposed for the Ward 2, Pos. 2 seat. He’ll be joined by incumbents Marina Brooks, Steve Fender and Charlie Harmon.
Brooks will keep her Ward 3, Pos. 2 seat, defeating challenger Bill Montgomery, 1,752 votes, or 68 percent, to 825, or 32 percent.
Fender, representing Ward 4, Pos. 2, staved off two challengers and a run-off by garnering 71 percent of the vote. Fender received 1,561 votes to Norman Cartwright’s 376, or 17 percent, and Justin Smith’s 273 votes, or 12 percent.
Alderman Charlie Harmon, Ward 1, Pos. 2, was unopposed.
Nickels received 7,107 votes, or 52 percent, to Meckfessel’s 6,475, or 48 percent.
Hill Township Constable Dennis Sobba, a Democrat, was re-elected, beating back a challenge from Republican Rick Scott. Sobba got 31,931 votes, or 57 percent, while Scott received 24,319, or 43 percent.
In Jacksonville, all five aldermen up for re-election were unopposed and retained their seats for another four years. Those included Marshall Smith, Ward 1, Pos.2: Terry Sansing, Ward 2, Pos. 2; Linda Rinker, Ward 3, Pos. 2; Bob Stroud, Ward 4, Pos. 2; and Bill Howard, Ward 5, Pos. 2.
For the juvenile court judicial position, officially known as circuit judge, division 11, subdistrict 6.2, Melinda Gilbert bested Cathi Compton, 57,988 votes to 53,077.