LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An appeals court judge who won support from Democrats and Republicans said Wednesday that he lost his bid for a seat on the Arkansas Supreme Court at least in part because he wasn't identified as a judge on the ballot.
"The major thing was the fact that my opponent had the title 'judge' before her name and I didn't," Judge Raymond Abramson said the day after he lost to Judge Jo Hart in the non-partisan judicial race.
Both Abramson and Hart currently serve on the state Court of Appeals, but Abramson was appointed by Gov. Mike Beebe in 2010 and Hart was elected in 1998.
State law says candidates can only put the title of a judicial office ahead of their name in an election if they're currently serving in a judicial position to which they were elected.
So Hart, of Mountain View, was identified as a judge on the ballot. Abramson, of Holly Grove, was only listed by his name.
Hart acknowledged there was an advantage to having the title ahead of her name, but she said she didn't think it played a big role in the results.
"I think if someone has not spoken to a candidate or hasn't researched a candidate, I think the traditional wisdom is that they would vote for the candidate with judge in front of their name," she said Wednesday.
Abramson formally announced his bid for the spot on the state Supreme Court last May. For months, it appeared he would be running unopposed, but Hart said in December that she planned to join the race.
"I decided to run because I felt like the people in the state of Arkansas needed an opportunity to vote on who was going to be their next justice on the Supreme Court," Hart said Wednesday. "Otherwise, if you have people who go to the court without having an election, the people don't have an opportunity to speak."
Abramson, whose campaign touted his small-town values, raised and spent more money than Hart, who boasted of running a grass-roots campaign. Abramson also drew support from Democratic legislators and a former Republican congressman who recorded phone calls for his bid.
Abramson's term on the Court of Appeals wraps up at the end of the year. He said Wednesday that it's too early to decide what he'll do next.
"Certainly there's no reason for me not to consider it in the future," he said.
Hart will replace Associate Justice Jim Gunter, who announced last year that he wouldn't seek re-election to the seven-member court.
Another Supreme Court associate justice, Robert L. Brown, announced last year that he plans to retire from the high court at the end of 2012. The governor will appoint someone to finish out his term.
Abramson practiced law in the Delta for more than three decades and has worked as a city attorney, public defender and municipal court judge.
Hart has served on the Arkansas Court of Appeals for more than a decade. She has also served in the military, clerked for Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Frank Holt and practiced law in Batesville.
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