Ex-Bush official gets GOP nod

Businessman French Hill (R) has won the GOP primary for Rep. Tim Griffin’s (R-Ark.) House seat, a win for establishment Republicans.

{mosads}The Associated Press has called the race for Hill, who led with 53 percent of the vote to Arkansas state Rep. Ann Clemmer’s (R) 24 percent and businessman Conrad Reynolds’s (R) 23 percent with 52 percent of precincts reporting.

National Republican strategists had been pulling for Hill, a former Bush administration official and banker, believing he was their strongest option for the general election.

He’ll face former North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays (D) in the general election in a Republican-leaning but potentially competitive district. Griffin is running for lieutenant governor.

In the race to replace Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ga.), who won his Senate primary, Arkansas state Rep. Bruce Westerman (R) has defeated businessman Tommy Moll (R). He’ll face former Federal Emergency Relief Agency Director James Lee Witt (D), a close friend of President Bill Clinton, in a heavily Republican western Arkansas district.

This post was updated at 11:20 p.m.