For those of us who are unaware, is this a vacant seat / special election? And is this currently counted as a Dem or GOP seat?
It is a seat held by Dems for years. Pryor is in his 2nd term.
Dems held 3 of the 4 House seats and both Senate seats. Rep. Boozman held the only Republican seat from 2001 to 2011. He ran against Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D) in 2012 and defeated her. In 2010, the Republicans turned 2 other House seats to Republicans, leaving only 1 House seat under the Dems. In 2012, that seat changed to R.
If Cotton does win against Pryor, then 3 House and both Senate seats would have gone from D to R since 2010, giving the state 4 R’s in the House and 2 R’s in the Senate.
The House seat Boozman vacated remained under the R column in the 2012 election.
This is shaping up to be a loss for an incumbent democrat.