Tom Cotton
RIncumbentFEC S4AR00103
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Raised this cycle$7.1M
Cash on hand: $5.1M
2026 race
AR — U.S. Senate
3 candidates on the November ballot. Incumbent: Tom Cotton.
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See where these candidates stand — and who's funding them.
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How we got here · 2 earlier contests
Democratic primary · Tuesday, March 3, 2026
Called by manual backfill (AP/Wikipedia/state SOS)
Hallie ShoffnerWon78.3%
- DEthan DunbarDefeated21.7%
Republican primary · Tuesday, March 3, 2026
Called by manual backfill (AP/Wikipedia/state SOS)
Tom CottonWon81.6%
- RMicah AshbyDefeated9.2%
- RJeb LittleDefeated9.1%
Election held
Counting
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Results appear here once a race is called and verified. Official returns from the Arkansas Secretary of State.
Make sure you can vote
Disclosed money in race
$14M
Candidate + outside spending. See finance breakdown below.
Incumbent
Currently in office
Challengers
Sorted by fundraising
Hallie Shoffner
DChallengerFEC S6AR00199
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Raised this cycle$4.0M
Cash on hand: $757K
Jeff Wadlin
IChallengerFEC S6AR00223
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Raised this cycle$80K
Cash on hand: $6K
3 defeated candidates — show
Jeb Little
RDefeatedChallengerFEC S6AR00215
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Raised this cycle$93K
Cash on hand: $127
Micah Ashby
RDefeatedChallengerFEC S6AR00207
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Raised this cycle$41K
Cash on hand: $754
Ethan Dunbar
DDefeatedChallengerFEC S6AR00173
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Raised this cycle$17K
Cash on hand: $1K
Local signal
Early read on AR — U.S. Senate
A directional read on where this seat is trending, from the signals we have so far. This is an early scaffold — more inputs light up as coverage and constituent activity accrue.
Coverage tone · the matchup
Recent news coverage of the nominees heading to the general election.
Tom Cottonleans negative
2 pos40 neutral3 neg45 articles
Hallie Shoffnerleans negative
0 pos9 neutral2 neg11 articles
A media signal, not a poll of the district.
Constituent stakes
No one here has staked a position on a tracked vote yet. As neighbors weigh in on /pressure campaigns, the district's lean will show up here.
Money in the race
Finance breakdown
Disclosed funding shaping this race — both the money candidates raise themselves and the outside spending dropped by independent groups. Issue-ad spending by 501(c)(4) groups is excluded; the FEC doesn't require disclosure of it. See the note below for details.
Candidate fundraising: FEC reports through October 14, 2026 · 2025–26 cycle
Total disclosed
$14M
Candidate fundraising + independent expenditures (FEC).
Candidate-direct (Schedule A)
$11M
Raised by candidate committees themselves.
Outside spending (Schedule E)
$2.5M
$665K for · $1.9M against
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Tom Cotton(R)incumbent + AMERICA ONE $665K | $7.1M | $665K | — | $7.8M |
Hallie Shoffner(D) − AMERICA ONE $1.7M − ARKANSANS FOR DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE $180K | $4.0M | — | $1.9M | $2.2M |
Jeff Wadlin(L) | $80K | — | — | $80K |
3 defeated candidates — show finances
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jeb Little(R)defeated | $93K | — | — | $93K |
Micah Ashby(R)defeated | $41K | — | — | $41K |
Ethan Dunbar(D)defeated | $17K | — | — | $17K |
Where the money comes from
In-state vs out-of-state
Share of each candidate's itemized individual contributions from donors inside AR versus the rest of the country. Excludes sub-$200 unitemized donations (no geography on file) and PAC money — see note below.
Tom Cotton(R)17% in-state · $5.0M itemized
$853K in-state$4.1M out-of-state
Hallie Shoffner(D)82% in-state · $1.4M itemized
$1.2M in-state$259K out-of-state
Jeff Wadlin(L)52% in-state · $7K itemized
$4K in-state$3K out-of-state
2 defeated candidates — show
Jeb Little(R)defeated54% in-state · $7K itemized
$4K in-state$3K out-of-state
Ethan Dunbar(D)defeated18% in-state · $12K itemized
$2K in-state$10K out-of-state
What's counted, what isn't
Candidate-direct is each campaign's reported receipts on FEC Schedule A — individual contributions plus PAC contributions to the candidate's own committee — through the most recent filing.
Outside spending is independent expenditures on FEC Schedule E: money spent by PACs, super PACs, and party committees for or against a candidate, without legal coordination with the campaign. The committees listed under each candidate are the largest disclosed spenders on either side.
In-state vs out-of-state covers only itemized individual contributions — donations over $200, which are the only ones that carry a contributor address at the FEC. Sub-$200 unitemized donations (often a large share for grassroots campaigns) have no geography on file and are excluded, as is PAC money. So the percentages describe where a candidate's itemized individual money comes from, not where every dollar raised comes from.
Not counted: 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations run issue ads that frequently mention candidates by name but aren't classified as express advocacy under FEC rules — they file no Schedule E and don't appear in this breakdown. Press reporting on a race may cite figures that include this dark-money spending; ours doesn't.
Where they stand
Issue-by-issue comparison
Positions extracted from each candidate's campaign issues page by AI. Contested rows — where candidates disagree with each other — appear first.
| Statement | Cotton | Shoffner | Wadlin | You |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Criminal Justice Federal minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes should be reduced or eliminated. | — | |||
Criminal Justice The federal government should send more money to local police departments. | — | |||
Criminal Justice Federal law should allow individuals to sue police officers for civil-rights violations even when officers claim qualified immunity. | — | |||
Education Parents should be able to use public funds — through vouchers — to send their kids to private or charter schools. | — | |||
Education Education policy should be set by states, not the federal Department of Education. | — | |||
Education Federal Title IX protections should explicitly include sexual orientation and gender identity. | — | |||
Foreign Policy The U.S. should spend more on the military. | — | |||
Guns Civilian ownership of AR-15-style rifles should be restricted. | — | |||
Healthcare The government should provide healthcare for everyone. | — | |||
Immigration The U.S. should do more to enforce immigration laws and secure the border. | — | |||
Immigration The U.S. should allow more legal immigration each year. | — | |||
Social Security High earners should pay Social Security taxes on more of their income. | — | |||
Taxes People making over $400,000 a year should pay higher taxes. | — | |||
Trade U.S. trade policy should reduce economic interdependence with China, especially on technology and critical minerals. | — | |||
Veterans The VA should cover more veterans and more health conditions. | — |
SupportsOpposesNo public positionRinged = confirmed by the campaign
Recent coverage
In the news
About this race page
Candidate roster is sourced from the FEC's active-candidate list for the 2026 cycle. Fundraising totals reflect committee filings through the last reporting period.
Alignment % compares the candidate's extracted policy positions against your quiz answers. Positions are pulled from the candidate's campaign issues page by AI; we save the source quote for each position so you can verify the extraction. Candidates without a campaign issues page show position data pending — we're working through the roster and re-checking stale extractions every 90 days.
News coverage is from the GDELT 2.0 global news feed, filtered to a curated list of national, political, and regional outlets.