2016

The reason for the low competition was that candidates were in safe districts for their parties. Between 1972 and 2014, an upward trend in uncontested state legislative elections occurred.

The Democratic Party of Arkansas focused its 2016 efforts on the state’s House of Representatives. Without the numbers to win the state Senate

Richard Winger, who said that the early primary deadline for the 2016 elections was a possible factor as well, making it difficult for Democrats to recruit candidates early.

The primary election was held on March 1, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing period began at noon local time on November 2, 2015, and ended at noon local time on November 9, 2015.

Arkansas House of Representatives, District 72 General Election, 2016

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Democratic	Steve Magie Incumbent	59.84%	6,315
Republican	Shannon Taylor	40.16%	4,239
Total Votes			10,554
Source: Arkansas Secretary of State

Arkansas House of Representatives, District 72 Democratic Primary, 2016

Party	Candidate
Democratic	Steve Magie Incumbent (unopposed)

Arkansas House of Representatives, District 72 Republican Primary, 2016

Party	Candidate
Republican	Shannon Taylor (unopposed)

2014

Elections for the Arkansas House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on May 20, 2014; a runoff election took place where necessary on June 10, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 3, 2014. Incumbent Steve Magie was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Shannon L. Taylor was unopposed in the Republican primary. Magie defeated Taylor in the general election.

Arkansas House of Representatives, District 72 General Election, 2014

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Democratic	Steve Magie Incumbent	56.4%	3,794
Republican	Shannon Taylor	43.6%	2,936
Total Votes			6,730