Rep. Douglas House (right), R-North Little Rock, looks over the 2018 candidate filings with former state Rep. Charles Armstrong on Thursday at the Capitol. ( Arkansas Democrat-Gazette / Thomas Metthe

On the sixth and final day of the state's campaign filing period, 23 candidates -- including for governor, treasurer and U.S. Congress -- filed Thursday to run for state and federal offices this election year.

According to the secretary of state's website, the final tally of 309 partisan and judicial candidates for this year's elections included 133 Republicans, 90 Democrats, 24 Libertarians and 62 nonpartisan judicial candidates. Before the opening day of filing, 29 of the 62 judicial candidates qualified for the ballot by submitting signature petitions. In addition, eight filed as independents and two filed as write-ins. Filing took place at the state Capitol.

The primary election and nonpartisan judicial general election are May 22. The general election is Nov. 6.

With minutes to spare, Leticia Sanders of Maumelle filed as a Democrat for governor and was the last candidate to sign up in the party filing period.

[2018 CANDIDATES: Full list of those who have filed to run for state, federal offices]

She joins Jared Henderson of Little Rock in the May 22 primary for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. The nominee will take on the winner of the Republican primary between Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Jan Morgan of Hot Springs and Libertarian candidate Mark West in the Nov. 6 general election.

Sanders, who is a hair braider and a graduate student at Webster University, said she decided in February 2017 to run for governor because "I am a people person."

"I see everything that is going on that shouldn't be going on and I think I can make a difference," Sanders said. "I am here to make a change for everyone."

She said she wants to make changes in the education and justice systems.

But Sanders said she doesn't know much about Henderson and what their differences will be.

A last-minute filing by Ashley Ewald of Uniontown, a Libertarian, gave state Treasurer Dennis Milligan an opponent. The treasurer's race was the last of the seven constitutional offices to have more than one candidate.

In the Legislature, Republican Dean Elliott of Maumelle filed for the state Senate District 15 spot and said the incumbent, David Sanders, decided not to run for re-election.

"When I found out Sen. Sanders was not running -- whom I would never run against -- I felt the call to come back into the race," Elliott said.

David Sanders said in an email, "When I made the decision to run in 2010 for the state House, I did so hoping to have an impact in the legislature by engaging on policy.

"Our system is predicated on the idea that men and women step in for a time and contribute their best and then step out and allow others to serve," Sanders wrote. "Our family has enjoyed this time of public service. We talk a lot about making decisions that are best for each other. This was the right decision for us."

Elliott will face Mark Johnson of Little Rock in the Republican primary.

Two other Republican legislators, Joe Farrer of Austin and Ken Henderson of Russellville, didn't file for re-election without having previously announced their intentions.

Farrer said the constitution at the time limited him to serving three two-year terms when he was elected to the House in 2012.

"I've served my three terms and it's time for someone to serve," he said.

Under Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution, lawmakers are now allowed to serve up to 16 years in either the House, the Senate or combined service in both chambers.

Henderson said he decided not to seek re-election because "I have some other job opportunities around the Capitol," that he declined to disclose.

"I'm not going far. I am staying in politics, but in a different capacity," said Henderson, who has served in the House since 2015.

Two congressional races drew last-day filers.

In the 3rd Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Steve Womack of Rogers will face Robb Ryerse of Springdale in the Republican primary. Libertarian Michael Kalagis and Democrat Josh Mahony earlier filed for the seat.

Ryerse, who filed Thursday, was followed through the filing process by a documentary film crew from New York. A production company representative declined to release any information on the documentary's subject, only to say they were covering a few people from around the nation.

A first-time filer, Ryerse said he decided to run for Congress after the 2016 presidential election and he woke up "a little bit scared about the future of the country."

"I really believe that we need representatives who will put the needs of people ahead of the desires of the party establishments and corporate donors," Ryerse said. "We need people whose loyalty will be with voters. So that's why I decided to jump into this race."

In the 1st Congressional District, Chintan Desai -- a projects manager with KIPP Delta, a charter school organization in Helena-West Helena -- was among the first filers early Thursday. Desai, a Democrat, and Libertarian candidate Elvis Presley will attempt to oust Republican U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford of Jonesboro.

The son of Indian immigrants, Desai moved to Arkansas eight years ago to teach fifth-grade social studies for Teach for America.

He decided to run for office, he said, because of his love of the Natural State and because he "noticed there are some things that can be a little bit easier for folks."

"It should be a little bit easier for folks to get affordable health care," he said. "It should be a little bit easier for people to get a high-quality education regardless of their ZIP code. It should be a little bit easier to live a decent quality of life on the wages you get."

Desai said that while Crawford is a good man and he admires him for serving his country, he disagrees with Crawford's view on how to improve the lives of the 1st District constituents.

"His view is that we can, by offering tax cuts to corporations and the very wealthy, that those things will trickle down to higher wages to workers. We haven't seen evidence to that happening," Desai said. "I believe that if we do things like investing in education, uplifting people by raising their wages, offering a tax that basically helps pay for some of these programs on stock trades. We can do things that can uplift people in different ways."

Rep. Mark McElroy of Tillar, who has three times been elected to the House as a Democrat, filed for re-election as an independent Thursday. Instead of paying a filing fee, he'll have to collect signatures to appear on the ballot.

Secretary of state spokesman Chris Powell said that because of a recent federal court ruling, independent candidate petitions will be accepted up until May 1.

McElroy explained his decision by saying he is "too conservative to be a Democrat, too poor to be a Republican."

The representative added that he had grown to dislike being told how to vote in caucus meetings, as well as having to fend off repeated primary challengers.

After the filing period ended at noon Thursday, a crowd gathered on the front steps of the Capitol for a celebration by the Progress Arkansas Women political action committee for what they said was a record number of female candidates.

The secretary of state's office does not track gender demographics when candidates file.

JoAnne Mills, a founding member of the committee, said that the women signed up to serve because "they care."

"They care about this community. They care about their state," Mills said. "They want to improve the economy, to bring good-paying jobs to Arkansas families. They want to make sure that all children get a great and equal fair education and are safe in their schools. They want to work to ensure that all Arkansans are able to lead healthy lives."

Information for this article was contributed by John Moritz of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Metro on 03/02/2018