Cole Jester, former deputy legal counsel to Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was sworn in as secretary of state Wednesday, January 1, 2025.. He spoke during the appointment announcement in Little Rock on Friday, December 20, 2024. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)
Arkansas has a new treasurer, a new secretary of state and a slightly different lineup of Supreme Court justices as of Wednesday.
John Thurston was secretary of state for six years before being elected in November into the vacant treasurer position. He will serve the final two years of former state Treasurer Mark Lowery’s term. Lowery was elected into the role in 2022 but died of complications from two strokes in 2023.
Thurston wants to “continue to build on the practices that are in place” rather than changing anything about how the treasurer’s office works, he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette after his swearing-in Wednesday. He also said he hopes to give smaller banks more opportunities to participate in the state’s certificate of deposit program.
The treasurer serves as the state banker, overseeing the state’s investment portfolio of more than $11 billion and distributing funds to state agencies and local governments. Larry Walther, former secretary of the state Department of Finance & Administration, was the state’s interim treasurer after Lowery’s death.
Thurston was Arkansas’ commissioner of state lands from 2011 to 2019. State law limits executive officeholders to a maximum of two four-year terms, so Thurston will be eligible to run for treasurer again in 2026 but will not be eligible to run for secretary of state a third time.
In her hometown of Clinton, Karen Baker was sworn in Wednesday as the first elected female chief justice of the state’s highest court. She succeeded John Dan Kemp, who declined to run for reelection.
She told an audience that she was “so grateful” for the support of the public, especially in Clinton and Van Buren County.
Baker defeated Associate Justice Rhonda Wood in November’s runoff election. Associate Justice Barbara Webb and former state lawmaker Jay Martin also ran for the chief justice seat, with Baker and Wood advancing after the initial election in March.
Additionally, Cole Jester was sworn in to complete Thurston’s term as secretary of state, and Cody Hiland and Nicholas Bronni now hold two Arkansas Supreme Court positions that became vacant after November’s elections, previously held by Baker and Associate Justice Courtney Hudson.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced the appointments of Jester, Hiland and Bronni in December.
On Thursday, Jester was sworn in again publicly and said he is the nation’s youngest secretary of state, according to the Democrat-Gazette. He is 27 years old and completed his bachelor’s and law degrees within the past six years.
Jester was Sanders’ deputy chief legal counsel during her first two years in office. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Bronni was previously the state’s solicitor general, and Attorney General Tim Griffin appointed Dylan Jacobs as interim solicitor general in December.
Sanders appointed Hiland to the Supreme Court in July 2023 to fill the court’s second position after Associate Justice Robin Wynne’s death. Hiland’s appointment meant he could not run for the position.
Hudson won election to Wynne’s seat in March, leaving her position open for a gubernatorial appointment.
Justices are elected to serve eight-year terms. The nonpartisan elections are staggered, and Associate Justice Shawn Womack was sworn in Wednesday after winning reelection to his own seat in March.
Sanders said in December that she was proud to give the Supreme Court a conservative majority, an effort she previously said she began with Hiland’s first appointment. Hiland was chairman of the state’s Republican Party from December 2022 to July 2023.