LITTLE ROCK — Former Arkansas governor and current presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee was the first in line when Arkansas’ one-week filing period for state, federal and non-partisan judicial candidates opened at noon Monday.

LITTLE ROCK — Former Arkansas governor and current presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee was the first in line when Arkansas’ one-week filing period for state, federal and non-partisan judicial candidates opened at noon Monday.

Several other Republican presidential candidates sent representatives to file paperwork on their behalf. Heidi Cruz, wife of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, filed for her husband, and representatives of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio filed for those candidates.

On the Democratic side, representatives of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders filed paperwork for his name to appear as a presidential candidate on Arkansas’ March 1 primary ballot.

Huckabee, now a Florida resident, had a representative hold a place in line for him beginning at about 7 a.m., according to Secretary of State Mark Martin. Huckabee told reporters he is not taking his home state for granted.

"One thing I’ve learned about politics, and I learned it here in Arkansas: You never take anything for granted, ever," he said.

Huckabee, who has been polling at about 3 percent while real estate mogul Donald Trump and Carson lead the GOP pack, said that where things stand now is no indication of where they will end up.

"If you look back four years ago or eight years ago, the one thing you can be absolutely certain, whoever leads in the polls at this point is not going to be the nominee," he said.

Huckabee later attended a Republican Party rally in Little Rock.

Heidi Cruz told reporters that Arkansas is "an important state. You have a big delegate count, and March 1 is a critical day for the Republican election."

She said the Cruz campaign has operations in more than half of Arkansas’ 75 counties, "and we are building them out."

Ted Cruz made a series of campaign stops in Arkansas in August. His wife said he will come back to the state but did not say when.

State Rep. Mathew Pitsch R-Fort Smith, said he was at the Capitol to file to run for a second House term and as part of the team filing on behalf of Kasich. He said Kasich will campaign in Arkansas but he did not know when.

Kasich "seems to get the idea of how to get your financial situation under control," Pitsch said.

Sarah Scanlon of North Little Rock, state director for Sanders’ campaign, said Sanders has a growing network of volunteers in Arkansas.

"Right now we’re looking at 16,000 people that have signed up to volunteer for this campaign over the course of the next six months, and on until November if that’s where we end up," she said. "The great thing is that his message is resonating with a lot of people across this state."

Also filing paperwork Monday was former U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge of Fayetteville, who is running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican John Boozman of Rogers.

"People in Arkansas are frustrated with Washington," Eldridge told reporters. "They want something done. They want people in Washington to pay attention to real problems that we have in Arkansas."

Filing as a Libertarian to run for Boozman’s seat was Frank Gilbert of Tull, in-school suspension supervisor for the Bauxite School District. Gilbert ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2014.

Gilbert said he hopes his presence in the Senate race "will give people who either haven’t been voting or have been holding their nose to vote an option that they can gladly cast a vote for."

Libertarian Nathan LaFrance of Bella Vista, who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2014, filed to run for the 3rd District congressional seat, currently held by Republican Steve Womack of Rogers.

Libertarian Kerry Hicks of Mena filed to challenge Republican Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs for the 4th District congressional seat.

Elvis Presley of Star City, a Libertarian candidate who ran unsuccessfully as a write-in candidate for governor in 2010 and a candidate for land commissioner in 2014, filed to run for the District 26 state Senate seat. The incumbent, state Sen. Eddie Cheatham, D-Crossett, filed Monday for re-election.

Presley, who performs shows as Elvis and legally changed his name to the performer’s, said Monday, "I think there should be more politics in music and more music in politics."

Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson of Fayetteville filed to run for the position of chief justice on the court. Howard Brill has been serving in that position since the Sept. 1 retirement of Jim Hannah, but as a gubernatorial appointee he is not allowed to seek re-election.

Circuit Judge and former state legislator Shawn Womack of Mountain Home filed to run for the Arkansas Supreme Court seat now held by Paul Danielson, who has said he will not seek re-election.