LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas Supreme Court race with a decidedly partisan edge— including appeals to GOP voters, candidates swapping attacks over political ties and spending by an outside conservative group — comes to an end Tuesday as voters choose the next justice for the technically nonpartisan court.

The race for the seat being vacated by retiring Justice Jo Hart is the only statewide race on the ballot other than the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries. Secretary of State John Thurston has not predicted how many of the state's more than 1.7 million registered voters will cast a ballot in this year's primary.

Barbara Webb, chief administrative law judge of the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission, and Pulaski County Circuit Judge Morgan “Chip” Welch are running to replace Hart on the seven-member court.

Webb is the wife of the state Republican Party chairman, and Welch has criticized her appeals to GOP voters and speeches to Republican gatherings around the state. Webb, who has the backing of Republican Sen. Tom Cotton and former White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, has in turn accused Welch of downplaying his Democratic ties. Welch once ran for the Legislature as a Democrat and donated to Democratic candidates before he was elected judge in 2012.

Webb's candidacy has also been helped by an outside conservative group, the Republican State Leadership Committee, which has spent at least $225,000 on TV, radio and online ads promoting her. The group was one of two that spent more than $2.8 million on an unsuccessful effort two years ago to oust a state Supreme Court justice.

“This is a cold, cool political calculation designed to subvert amendment 80,” Welch said, referring to the amendment that made Arkansas' court races nonpartisan.

Webb, however, insisted she has support from members of both parties and said there's nothing in her record to show she'd be guided by politics.

“My opponent likes to narrow me into one niche and that's not my experience or my record,” she said.

Arkansas is a solidly red state, but it has drawn heavy interest from Democratic presidential hopefuls as one of more than a dozen states holding its nominating contest Tuesday. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg has spent heavily in the state and took the unusual step of appearing in person to file for the primary. Former Vice President Joe Biden has lined up support from some of the state's top Democrats. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren held an event in North Little Rock over the weekend. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders visited the state last year to appear at Walmart's shareholder meeting.

The election also features several hotly contested Republican primaries for the majority-GOP Legislature. They include the bid to unseat a Republican senator in northeast Arkansas who voted in committee against legislation loosening regulations for the use of deadly force in self-defense.

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