Sen. Tom Cotton has won a third six-year term in the U.S. Senate, defeating Democrat Hallie Shoffner in Tuesday’s election. The Associated Press called the race for Cotton at 9:40 p.m.
With about 82 percent of the vote counted, Cotton had 54.3 percent, or 383,679 votes, to Shoffner’s 42.6 percent, or 301,362 votes. Libertarian candidate Jeff Wadlin received 3.1 percent, or 22,013 votes.
Cotton campaigned with backing from President Donald Trump, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and the rest of Arkansas’ congressional delegation. He faced Shoffner in a state Trump won by more than 30 points in 2024.
Shoffner, a rice and soybean farmer whose operation shut down in 2025, previously donated to Democratic figures including Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Elizabeth Warren. Before running for office, she was executive director of Seis Puentes, a Little Rock nonprofit that helps undocumented Hispanic residents navigate American systems. The organization also worked with the city of North Little Rock to help immigrants without legal status obtain photo identification for public services.
Immigration policy became a flashpoint
In June, Shoffner said she would vote to “defund ICE as it exists right now” and would “not spend one more dime on ICE,” while calling immigrants “whether they have documents or not” essential to the country’s “social, cultural, and economic fabric.” She also said the government should “enforce good laws,” “treat human beings like human beings,” and “don’t be an asshole.” She later said she did not want to defund ICE but reform it.
On a September 9 appearance on the Free Arkansas podcast, Shoffner said of undocumented workers, “They’re some of the best people we know, and honestly, we’d trade five Americans for just one of them because of how hard they work.” She also questioned why such workers lacked a legal path to employment and suggested ICE agents’ bulletproof vests seemed “performative.” Her campaign manager, Anna-Lee Pittman, said Shoffner had been relaying another farmer’s concerns about labor shortages and accused Cotton’s campaign of quoting her out of context.
In October, a former senior employee of Shoffner’s family farming business, SFR Seed, told the Washington Free Beacon that Shoffner had knowingly employed three immigrants without legal status, and alleged the workers’ tax forms listed their children’s names. Shoffner had said previously she hired immigrant workers only through the H-2A visa program. Her campaign called for “credible evidence” of the claims, while Cotton’s campaign accused her of knowingly employing illegal immigrants and using false tax documents.
