Steve Womack
Steve Womack, a Republican former mayor of Rogers who has represented Arkansas's 3rd congressional district since 2011, faces Democrat Robb Ryerse, a pastor, in the 2026 election for the seat.
2026 Races & Market Forecast
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- Born
- February 18, 1957
- Birthplace
- Russellville, Arkansas
- Education
- Russellville High School (1975)
Arkansas Tech University (Bachelor of Arts in communications, 1979)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Steve Womack, whose full name is Stephen Allen Womack, was born on February 18, 1957, in Russellville, Arkansas, to Elisabeth (née Canerday) and James Kermit Womack. He graduated from Russellville High School in 1975 and from Arkansas Tech University in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in communications.
That same year his father founded the radio station KURM, where Womack served as station manager, and he enlisted in the Arkansas Army National Guard, from which he retired as a colonel in 2009. He married his wife, Terri, on August 4, 1984, and they had three sons; she died on January 18, 2026.
Career
Steve Womack left the radio station in 1990 to become executive officer for the Arkansas Reserve Officers' Training Corps at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, a role he held until 1996, and then worked as a financial consultant for Merrill Lynch. He was elected mayor of Rogers in 1998 and held the post for 12 years.
When incumbent John Boozman ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010, Womack entered the race for the 3rd district, placed first in a seven-candidate Republican primary, won the June runoff against state senator Cecile Bledsoe, 52% to 48%, and defeated Democrat David Whitaker, 72% to 28%.
He has been reelected at every election since, including a 2018 primary win over Robb Ryerse, 84% to 16%, and a 2024 primary win over state senator Clint Penzo with 54% of the vote.
Womack chaired the House Budget Committee from 2018 to 2019 and was its ranking member from 2019 to 2021, and in the 118th Congress he served on the Committee on Appropriations as chair of its Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.
He is a member of the Republican Governance Group.
2026 race
Arkansas's 3rd congressional district encompasses all of Benton, Carroll, Crawford, Madison, Sebastian and Washington counties, and Steve Womack is the Republican incumbent seeking reelection after winning 63.8% of the vote in 2024. He is again the Republican nominee.
His Democratic opponent is Robb Ryerse, a pastor who was a Republican candidate for the district in 2018, when Womack defeated him in the primary. Libertarian Bobby Wilson, the party's nominee for the district in 2024, is also a declared candidate in the general election on November 3, 2026.