Article snippet: The backstory behind how Cotton wiped out the only person who filed against him, a backbencher Democrat who announced he was running next year back in May, at just the right time to essentially ensure that he will be reelected unopposed is perhaps one of the most interesting feats in modern politics. Joshua Mahony, a Democrat and self-described-though-unconfirmed small business owner, had announced in May he was running against Cotton for the U.S. Senate in 2020. Arkansas has become a deep-red state since the days Democrat Bill Clinton was governor, and its last statewide elected Democrat in a long time, now former Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), went down in 2014 to Cotton in what many expected to be a close race but was really a blowout. Republicans have solidified control in the deep-southern state, but nonetheless a freshman senator seeking a second term usually warrants at least some kind of semi-serious challenge from the opposing party. Democrats failed to recruit anyone but Mahony, making him their horse to ride for 2020—but then Tuesday’s noon local time filing deadline in the state rolled around and Cotton’s team moved in for a quick kill of Mahony’s nascent campaign before it even got off the starting block and after Democrats could no longer legally field anyone else to run against Cotton. As soon as the noon deadline arrived and nobody else jumped into the race to challenge Cotton, sources familiar with the matter tell Breitbart News, the Arkansas Senator’s... Link to the full article to read more