Arkansas state Sen. Kim Hammer edged out U.S. Army veteran Bryan Norris in Tuesday's Republican primary runoff for secretary of state, 50.6%-49.4%.
Hammer, who garnered 40,876 votes to Norris' 39,938, will face Democrat Kelly Grappe, who ran unopposed for her nomination, and Libertarian Michael Pakko in the November general election.
Hammer and Norris ran on promises to make elections secure and implement President Donald Trump's agenda to overhaul elections and voting.
Hammer, who had endorsements from much of the state's Republican Party establishment — including U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Lt. Gov. Leslie Rutledge, Attorney General Tim Griffin, and outgoing Secretary of State Cole Jester — authored a 2023 law that requires hand-counted ballots to be compatible with state tabulation equipment and requires counties that hand-count ballots to bear any associated costs.
The call to hand-count ballots has been a popular refrain among many Trump supporters since the president's failed attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
But some attempts at full hand-counts since then have shown the process to be time-consuming, expensive, and prone to human error.
"I don't know it all, but I've got a pretty good working knowledge, and I'll be able to go into the office not behind the learning curve," Hammer said earlier this month.
The campaign drew six-figure spending from outside groups in the race.
Hammer will have an advantage heading into the general election. It's been 20 years since Arkansas elected a Democrat as secretary of state and no Democrat has won statewide office since 2010.
Jester called on Norris to drop out of the race over his controversial social media posts, including one in which Norris wrote to Cotton, "With all due respect, and from one combat veteran to another ... [Expletive] You Tom!"
Norris acknowledged using "some salty language from time to time" but pledged, "you're never going to hear me talk or speak that way again."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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