Brown, Smith Win JP Seats on Court

RISON - Justice of the Peace Bruce Brown maintained his District 7 seat on the Cleveland County Quorum Court while Jeffrey Smith will be the new District 8 JP based on the final but unofficial results from Tuesday's primary election.Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump easily won the Republican primary in both Cleveland County and the state, while President Joe Biden dominated the Democratic primary in both instances.Both justice of the peace races were determined in the Republican primary. Since no other candidates have filed for either position, it was a winner-take-all situation for both. Brown and Smith will begin a new two-year term on the quorum court beginning Jan. 1, 2025.Brown, of the Pansy community, held off challenger Donald Mull of the Herbine community by a 57-42 margin in the District 7 race. This was the second time the two have squared off in a primary election with Brown edging Mull by just three votes in 2022.Smith, of the Rison area, won by a 58-46 margin over Corey Keaton of the Macedonia community for the District 8 position. Both were running for a political office for the first time. Smith will be replacing Johnie Brewster of the Macedonia community, who chose not to seek re-election.In one other locally contested race, Robin Roark of Smackover edged Horace Ray Charles of El Dorado, 31-28, in the Democratic primary for District 96 State Representative. The winner of that race will face Republican incumbent Sonia Barker of (continued from page 1) Smackover in the November general election.State House District 96 includes roughly the west side of Cleveland County. Rison, Kingsland and New Edinburg are all within the boundaries of District 96.Presidential PrimaryOf those who cast ballots in Tuesday's primary election, 993 (89.5 percent) did so in the Republican primary while 116 (10.5 percent) did so in the Democratic primary. Here are the total but unofficial result...