Result
Sen. Tyler Dees (R-Siloam Springs) won a second term representing Arkansas State Senate District 35 without facing an opponent. No Democrat filed for the seat, and his March 3 Republican primary was canceled because he was the only candidate, according to Ballotpedia’s District 35 page.
Under Arkansas election law, unopposed legislative candidates are declared elected without their names being printed on the general election ballot. That means Dees did not appear on either the March 3 or the Nov. 3 ballot, and his new term begins in January 2027.
Candidates and Platforms
Dees, director of business development at Simmons Foods, won the seat in 2022 as a first-time candidate, beating Gayla McKenzie, then a state representative, in a Republican runoff with 63% of the vote. His Arkansas Senate biography lists him as vice chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and chair of the Boys State Committee.
He was the lead Senate sponsor of the Bell to Bell, No Cell Act, which Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders proposed and which bans smartphones and other personal devices in public schools during the school day. When he announced his reelection bid in July 2025, Dees said his first term delivered lower taxes and stronger protections for children, NWA Homepage reported.
District and Chamber
District 35 covers the western parts of Benton and Washington counties in Northwest Arkansas, including Dees’ hometown of Siloam Springs. It was one of 17 Arkansas Senate seats on the ballot this year.
Democrats flipped one of those seats on Nov. 3, winning the open District 13 seat in Pulaski County and cutting the Republican majority to 28 to 7, Talk Business & Politics reported. Republicans still hold a supermajority in the 35-member chamber.
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