Federal race · November 3, 2026
U.S. Senate
U.S. senators write and vote on federal laws, confirm presidential nominees, and approve treaties; Arkansas has two senators.
6-year term. Regular election for the Class 2 seat held by Sen. Tom Cotton (R), who is seeking a third term. Three candidates are printed on the ballot. Arkansas's other seat (Sen. John Boozman) is not up until 2028. There is no special Senate election in Arkansas in 2026.
The candidates
Listed alphabetically by last name.
Tom Cotton
U.S. Senator from Arkansas (since 2015); Chairman, Senate Republican ConferenceCotton is a Yell County native and Army veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan who has represented Arkansas in the U.S. Senate since 2015, after one term in the U.S. House. He chairs the Senate Republican Conference and the Senate Intelligence Committee and is seeking a third term. His campaign highlights immigration enforcement, tax cuts, national security and law enforcement.
Hallie Shoffner
Farmer and small-business owner; founder of Delta HarvestShoffner is a sixth-generation farmer from near Newport who ran her family's row-crop farm for nine years before she stopped farming and sold the operation in 2025, and who founded the food-sourcing company Delta Harvest. She has not held elected office. Her campaign focuses on living costs, health care, agriculture and labor.
Jeff Wadlin
Engineer, businessman and consultantWadlin is a Bentonville engineer and businessman who has worked at Caterpillar, Capital One and Sam's Club and started consulting and product-development businesses. He was nominated by the Libertarian Party of Arkansas and has not held elected office. His campaign focuses on affordability, ending broad tariffs, balanced budgets and civil liberties.
Compare on the issues
Summaries of each candidate's stated positions. See each profile for sources and details.
| Issue | Tom Cotton Republican | Hallie Shoffner Democratic | Jeff Wadlin Libertarian |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abortion | His campaign says he has "stood up for life." | Declined to put a label on her abortion stance when asked; says states now set their own abortion laws and that restrictive laws can keep women from life-saving care. | Says abortion policy is now mainly set by the states and will not be the centerpiece of his campaign. |
| Health Care | Opposed extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, saying they lacked a way to ensure they served only low-income Americans; says he supports rural hospitals and lower drug costs. | Supports strengthening the Affordable Care Act, protecting Medicare and Medicaid, lowering prescription drug prices and protecting hospitals. | Supports a public-private model meant to cover everyone while lowering total costs, plus 12 months of postpartum Medicaid coverage. |
| Agriculture | Voted against the 2014 and 2018 farm bills, saying too much of the money went to nutrition programs; asked the USDA in 2025 to speed up aid to farmers. | Supports a Farm Bill that expands market access and risk management, plus local processing and regional food systems so more Arkansas farmers grow food for Arkansas families. | No public position found yet |
| Economy & Jobs | No public position found yet | Supports raising the minimum wage, expanding workforce training and providing resources to local businesses. | Supports ending broad tariffs, stronger antitrust enforcement, a gradual minimum-wage increase and more housing supply. |
| Education | Supports school choice, local control and parental rights; opposes teaching critical race theory in schools. | Supports higher pay and benefits for teachers and school support staff and more technical education and apprenticeships. | No public position found yet |
| Guns | Opposes gun-control measures he says punish law-abiding citizens and calls gun ownership "a God-given right"; supports tougher enforcement against violent criminals. | No public position found yet | Supports the individual right to own firearms, including semi-automatic firearms, and opposes feature-based restrictions. |
| Immigration | Supports finishing the border wall and deporting noncitizens convicted of crimes; authored the RAISE Act to limit family-based ("chain") immigration. | No public position found yet | Supports border security, faster asylum decisions, workplace verification and expanded legal immigration pathways. |
| Social Security & Medicare | No public position found yet | Supports lifting the cap on income subject to Social Security payroll taxes for the highest earners and reversing what she describes as cuts to the programs. | Supports protecting benefits for current and near retirees and phasing in personally owned investment accounts for younger workers. |
| Elections & Democracy | No public position found yet | No public position found yet | Supports ranked-choice voting, congressional term limits, wider ballot access for independents and reversing Citizens United. |
| Foreign Policy | Calls China "our most dangerous enemy" and supports decoupling U.S. supply chains from China. | No public position found yet | No public position found yet |
| Labor | No public position found yet | Supports the right to organize and bargain collectively and federal policies that favor companies she says respect their workers. | No public position found yet |
| Public Safety | No public position found yet | Supports training, staffing and mental health support for law enforcement and first responders, and expanding addiction treatment, especially in rural areas. | No public position found yet |
| Taxes | Voted for the 2025 tax and spending law (H.R. 1); says he supports no tax on tips and no tax on Social Security and opposes IRS expansion. | No public position found yet | No public position found yet |