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Endorses Capp
The race
Arkansas Court of Appeals, District 3, Position 1, was decided in the nonpartisan judicial election of March 3, 2026: Sarah Capp defeated Brandon Carter, 63.0% to 37.0%, for the seat left open by Judge Robert J. Gladwin's retirement. The ballot titles, from the official certified list, tell the race's shape: "Arkansas District Court Judge Sarah Capp" against "Prosecuting Attorney Brandon Carter." Neither candidate carries a party label on the ballot, and our research found no documented party affiliation for either — we say so plainly rather than infer one.
Sarah Capp is a sitting state district court judge serving Johnson and Franklin counties — an actual judge asking for promotion to the appellate bench that reviews trial-court work. Her one documented campaign controversy cuts in her favor on our values: she publicly criticized Carter for discussing a pending high-profile murder case in the press, arguing it "impacts the jury pool" and "impacts due process," and that "politics do not belong in our courtroom."
Brandon Carter is the prosecuting attorney who drew that criticism: while prosecuting a high-profile murder case (trial not expected until around summer 2027), he gave public status updates on the litigation; asked to respond to Capp's due-process objection, he declined, saying a response would itself politicize the case, and pledged to keep informing the public in his role as prosecutor.
Pros and cons
Capp: Credits: Sitting-judge experience in exactly the trial courts the Court of Appeals reviews; a documented, on-the-record defense of due process and jury-pool integrity against her own opponent's conduct. Dirt/limits: No appellate record exists to judge — she is unproven at this level, which we record as unproven, never as a demerit; no party or philosophy statements were retrieved. Carter: Credits: A working prosecutor carrying a major murder case; his pledge of continued public transparency is a real prosecutorial value. Dirt/limits: The documented flap above is the race's only proven controversy, and it is his: a sitting judge — his opponent — stated on the record that his publicity around a pending case threatened due process. No judicial experience at all.
Record gaps
Search record — Capp: official certified ballot list and county sample ballots (title and district confirmed); local TV coverage of the murder-case dispute (her due-process statements); no campaign site, questionnaire, or endorsement list retrieved. Carter: the same ballot sources and the same news coverage (his response); no campaign site, questionnaire, or endorsement list retrieved. The digging was symmetric; the records are genuinely thin, and both are stated here rather than padded.
OUR CALL
Our call: endorse Sarah Capp. When both files are thin, the tie-breakers are the ones on paper: a sitting judge over a never-judge, and the candidate who defended due process in a live case over the candidate whose conduct prompted the objection. Voters agreed by nearly two to one on March 3.
Vote Sarah Capp.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website. Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. --- Sources — Benton County — official certified judicial candidate list — https://bentoncountyar.gov/vote/wp-content/documents/sites/37/2026/01/Judicial-Certified-List-Primary.pdf • 2026 United States judicial elections compilation (Capp 63.0%, Carter 37.0%; Gladwin retired) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_judicial_elections • 4029tv coverage via SMU archive — Capp's due-process criticism and Carter's response — https://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/5718 AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.