Blake Tierney, the candidate hoping to oust at-large Little Rock City Director Joan Adcock during the Nov. 5 general election, moved back to Little Rock in 2022 and has primarily resided and voted in other cities in Central Arkansas.

Adcock’s campaign initially called out Tierney over his residency and voting history in her campaign’s first and only radio ad released so far.

In response, Tierney’s campaign on Tuesday released documentation related to his voting history along with a news release that criticized the ad.

“Rather than answer for her bad voting record for Little Rock residents, Joan Adcock spread a misleading claim about a young professional who chose to return home and commit to public service,” Tierney said in a statement included with the news release. “This kind of leadership from Adcock contributes to the brain drain of students from Little Rock. We need a new leader for City Director who will help Little Rock reach its potential, has served this city in grassroots groups and established institutions, and understands how to attract and keep residents of all ages.”

Tierney, 32, has spent most of his life in Central Arkansas. He grew up in Sherwood, where he registered to vote when he turned 18 in 2009, he said in a recent interview. He attended Hendrix College in Conway.

Following his four years at Hendrix, Tierney moved multiple times within Central Arkansas. The period included a year spent living in Little Rock, he recalled. In 2017, he moved to Wisconsin to obtain a graduate degree

from Marquette University in Milwaukee.

Tierney moved back to Little Rock in 2022 and has remained in the city since then.

Adcock’s campaign ad notes that Tierney has voted in just one general election “here,” presumably referring to Little Rock.

Records confirm Tierney has voted in one general election in Little Rock after registering to vote in the city in 2022.

However, although he only recently became a voter in Little Rock, Tierney has participated in a series of elections while residing within Pulaski and Faulkner counties. Tierney has voted in five general elections beginning in 2010 while living in Arkansas, records show.

In addition to Sherwood, he has lived and voted in

North Little Rock. Tierney has voted in three elections — one of them a general election — while residing in Faulkner County, records show.

After voting in Wisconsin while attending graduate school, Tierney became an Arkansas voter again in 2022, with his registration this time tied to a downtown Little Rock precinct.

The one-minute ad from Adcock’s campaign features two speakers.

The first person inquires about the race between Adcock and Tierney. “First of all, Blake Tierney has never shown up for us,” the other person says.

“How so?” the first says. “Blake Tierney didn’t even bother to register to vote here until two years ago,” the other says. “What?”

“In his whole life, Blake Tierney only voted in one general election here. One!”

“So, Blake Tierney’s never voted here for school board, sales-tax elections or other important community issues?”

“Nope.”

“Well, clearly Blake Tierney can’t be bothered to show up for us.”

The second person goes on to speak favorably of Adcock, remarking that she “has gotta be the hardest-working grandma in Little Rock,” and the first person ultimately commits to voting for her.

Adcock is heard at the conclusion of the ad stating that it was paid for by her campaign.

Adcock and Tierney are vying to represent Position 10, one of the three at-large seats on the city board. It is one of two competitive city board races on the ballot on Nov. 5; the other is the Position 9 contest between at-large City Director Antwan Phillips and challenger Jordan Thomas.

Winners will serve fouryear terms that begin Jan. 1, 2025.

Questions of service and residency may carry added weight in the contest between Adcock and Tierney. Adcock, 84, is the longest-serving city director in Little Rock’s history, having initially been elected in 1992. Tierney is a first-time candidate.

In a recent interview, Tierney noted that the ad from Adcock’s campaign followed the first radio ad from his own campaign, which draws attention to Adcock’s more than 30 years in office and describes her as “a roadblock for progress.”

The ad produced by Adcock’s campaign “doesn’t address her own voting record,” Tierney told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “Instead, she chooses to attack me and put out a claim that in general is misleading. It’s very vague, both about what she has done for people and about me in general.”

Tierney noted that his involvement in the community prior to moving to Milwaukee included serving with AmeriCorps at the Little Rock-based organization Our House, leading the Multi-Faith Youth Group of Arkansas and helping to start the Mercy Community Church of Little Rock.

(Tierney’s mother, Cathy Quaranta, works for WEHCO Media, Inc., the parent company of WEHCO Newspapers, Inc. The company that publishes the Democrat-Gazette is a subsidiary of WEHCO Newspapers, Inc.)

“I don’t believe it was misleading,” Adcock said of the ad.

“I think it’s a real consideration of if he has had enough time living in Little Rock to understand the whole city, to understand the problems, the good points, the bad points.”

Additionally, the ad came in response to Tierney continually “talking about how old I am,” Adcock told the Democrat-Gazette by phone.

“I don’t think that age has anything to do with how a person serves, and I guess he thinks that residency doesn’t have anything to do with how a person serves.”