Cole Jester

Cole Jester currently serves as Arkansas Secretary of State, a position he assumed in early 2025, per the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He previously worked as Deputy Chief Legal Counsel in Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' office and as a judicial clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and worked on legislation restricting certain foreign ownership of agricultural land while in the governor's office, per the same source. Arkansas law bars an appointee from seeking reelection to the office to which they were appointed, which the newspaper reported is why he is running for Commissioner of State Lands rather than Secretary of State. No campaign website was found as of September 20, 2026.