Author

Lisa Hammersly

Lisa Hammersly

Lisa Hammersly has been a reporter and editor for more than 40 years in Arkansas and North Carolina. She has reported on issues that include political corruption, campaign finance and the national collapse of the nation’s home lending system, working for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and The Charlotte Observer.

Incumbent Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. (right) won reelection Tuesday. Here he gives a pat on the back in passing to candidate Steve Landers Sr. at the conclusion of a candidate forum held in Little Rock. Oct. 10, 2022. (John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate)

Frank Scott Jr. wins second term as Little Rock’s mayor

By: - November 9, 2022

This story was updated at 4:10 p.m. Nov. 11 to reflect the latest vote tallies from the Pulaski County Election Commission’s website. Incumbent Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. won re-election Tuesday night in the city’s combative and high-dollar mayor’s race, with 49.9% of the vote according to unofficial totals on election night. Finishing second […]

The only campaign finance reports filed in the Little Rock mayor's race show Steve Landers Sr. (second from left) has raised more than double the amount of incumbent Mayor Frank Scott Jr.(left) and vastly more than (third and fourth from left) Greg Henderson and Gary Schwarz combined. (John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate)

Landers outspends Scott by about $250K in race for Little Rock mayor

By: - November 2, 2022

Retired auto dealer Steve Landers Sr. has raised almost $1 million in campaign contributions in the race for Little Rock mayor, more than doubling incumbent Mayor Frank Scott Jr. ‘s $403,604 total, according to campaign finance disclosure reports filed Tuesday (Nov. 1). Landers’ campaign contributions include a $400,000 loan to himself. All four candidates in […]

Arkansas Supreme Court Associate Justice Robin Wynne (left) and Faulkner County Circuit Judge Chris Carnahan face off in a nonpartisan runoff election Nov. 8. (Photos courtesdy of Arkansas Secretary of State's website)

Nonpartisan state Supreme Court race features candidate heavily favored by Republicans

By: - November 1, 2022

The Nov. 8 runoff for Arkansas Supreme Court Position 2 between Associate Justice Robin Wynne and Faulkner County Circuit Judge Chris Carnahan is billed as nonpartisan. Candidates aren’t nominated by political parties and can’t claim party endorsements or seek party contributions, according to the Arkansas Judicial Code of Conduct. But there’s a seeming loophole: Candidates […]

Major contributors to Little Rock mayoral race remain unknown

By: - October 19, 2022

Three weeks before the Nov. 8 general election, Little Rock voters still can’t learn the big contributors behind the four candidates in this year’s contentious mayor’s race. And they can’t know how candidates are spending those contribution dollars. State law doesn’t require campaign finance disclosure information from nonpartisan municipal candidates until Nov. 1, just seven […]

A picture of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee from 2015. Huckabee's political action committee donated more than 61% of the funds received by a group behind TV ads critical of incumbent Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr.

Mike Huckabee PAC funnels cash to committee behind anti-Scott ads

By: - October 11, 2022

This story was updated at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, to include Mayor Frank Scott Jr.’s response. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s political action committee, HuckPAC, is the primary funding source for a group behind advertising critical of Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott, Jr. and his re-election bid. Ads targeting the mayor have appeared on […]

Three Little Rock mayoral candidates voice support for marijuana amendment

By: - October 11, 2022

Three candidates for Little Rock mayor, including incumbent Frank Scott Jr., expressed full-throated support Monday night for legalizing recreational use of marijuana in Arkansas. The fourth mayoral hopeful, car dealer Steve Landers, voiced no opposition to the proposed state constitutional amendment while saying: “I will do what the people of the state of Arkansas decide […]