All Commission seats contested, School board to run unopposed
All county commission races will be contested and all school board members will run unopposed in the May 19 primary election.
Contested races for the county commission were the only local elections to develop during qualifying last week.
County Chairman Neal Bennett drew a challenge from Bristol businessman Austin Boatright. (See related story). It will be the only contested county-wide race.
Voters in district two will choose between retail manager Jason Christmas, retired banker Dick Larson and local contractor Jerry Ed Rich Jr. (See related story.)
If no candidate gets a majority of the vote, the election will be decided in a run-off June 16. District two is roughly the area from Blackshear south between U.S. Highway 84 and Georgia Highway 15 to Little Frank, Dean Still, Bailey, St. Johns, Midway and Youmans Chapel Roads to the Satilla River.
The winner will succeed current district two commissioner Graham Raley. Raley announced earlier this year he would not run for re-election.
In the fourth district, fireman and propane salesman Austin Moore qualified to challenge incumbent commissioner David Lowman. (See related story.)
State Court Solicitor Adam Ferrell will run unopposed.
All local candidates for partisan races qualified on the Republican ticket. The races will be decided in the May 19 primary since there are no local Democratic candidates.
In district-wide state races, Republican District Attorney Marilyn Bennett qualified to run unopposed.
State Representative Steven Meeks (RScreven) is unopposed for the Republican nomination but will face Democrat Brandon Dunham of Alma in the general election in November.
State Senator Russ Goodman (R, Cogdell) will face a primary challenger as Ralph Gregory Tyre of Ware County, will also seek the Republican candidate.
There will be no Democratic candidate.
All local non-partisan officeholders qualified without opposition including State Court Judge Dan Bennett Jr., BOE Chairman Duward Boatright and Perry Tison (District 2) and Wendy Puryear (District 4). In the lone district race, Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Kight will run unopposed. They will begin serving new, four-year terms in January.
A second judgeship, last held by Judge Dwayne Gillis, will be filled by gubernatorial appointment. By law, a vacancy due to retirement is held over until the next general election. Judge Gillis retired earlier this month.
A number of statewide, district and federal offices will also be up for election. They include: Federal races U.S. Senate: Republican: Buddy Carter, Mike Collins, John Francis Coyne III, Derek Dooley and Jonathan McCollumn.
Democrat: Jon Ossoff (incumbent), unopposed.
U.S. Congress District 1: Republicans: Pat Farrell, Jim Kingston, Brian Montgomery, Krista Penn, Kandiss Taylor and Eugene Yu.
Democrats: Defonsio Daniels, Joyce Marie Griggs, Amanda Hollowell, Michael McCord, Joey Palimeno, Sharon Stokes Williamson, Patrick J Wilver and Randall Jay Zurcher.
Statewide races Governor: Republicans: Chris Carr, Clark Dean, Rick Jackson, Burt Jones, Gregg Kirkpatrick, Brad Raffensperger, Takosha Swan, Thomas Williams and Ken Yasger.
Democrats: Keisha Lance Bottoms, Olu Brown, Amanda Duffy, Geoff Duncan, Jason Esteves, Derrick L. Jackson and Mike Thurmond.
Lieutenant Governor: Republicans: David Clark, Gregory Dolezal, Steve Gooch, John F. Kennedy Brenda Nelson-Porter and Blake Tillery.
Democrats: Josh McLaurin, Nabilah Parkes and Richard Wright.
Secretary of State: Republicans: Timothy Kyle Fleming, Vernon Jones, Kelvin King, Edward Metz and Gabriel Sterling.
Democrats: Cam Thi Ashling, Dana Barrett, Adrian Consonery Jr. and Penny Brown Reynolds.
Attorney General: Republicans: William Cowsert and Robert Brian Strickland.
Democrats: Herbert Adams Jr., Tanya Mille and Bob Trammell.
State School Superintendent: Republicans: Fred “Bubba” Longgrear, Mesha Mainor, Randell Trammell and Richard Woods (incumbent).
Democrats: Anton Anthony, Lydia Catalina Powell and Otha Thornton.
Agriculture commissioner: Republicans: Tyler Harper, incumbent, unopposed.
Democrats: Katherine E. Juhan-Arnold and Sedrick Kent Rowe Jr.
Insurance Commissioner: Republicans: John King, incumbent, unopposed.
Democrats: Clarence Blalock, Thomas Gabriel Dean, Ambuj “AJ” Jain, Deandre Bernard Mathis and Keisha Sean Waites.
Labor Commissioner: Republicans: Bárbara Yolanda Rivera Holmes, incumbent, unopposed.
Democrats: Brett A. Hulme, Jason Moon, Nikki Porcher, Michelle Michi Sanchez and Christian D. Smith.
Public Service Commissioner District 3: Republicans: Terrell Fitz Johnson Sr. and Brandon Martin.
Democrats: Peter Jacob Hubbard. Public Service Commissioner District 5: Republicans: Bobby Mehan, Carolyn Tatum Roddy and Joshua Aaron Tolbert.
Democrats: Craig Cupid and Angelia Pressley.
In non-partisan races, there will be two races for Georgia Court Of Appeals as Incumbent Trenton Jones Brown will face Will Wooten and Incumbent Elizabeth Dallas Gobeil faces a challenge from Fatima Harris Felton.
Incumbent Sara Gebhardt Doyle will run unopposed There will also be two races for Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. Incumbents David Todd Markle, J. Wade Padgett and Sarah Hawkins Warren will run unopposed.
Incumbent Charles “Charlie” Bethel faces a challenge from Shamiracle Johnson Rankin and incumbent Benjamin Arthur Land will face a challenge from Jennifer Auer Jordan.
Early voting will be from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. April 27-May 15, at the elections office at 312 Nichols Street. Saturday voting will be held from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. May 2 and 9.
Polls will be open election day from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday, May 19. Deadline to register to vote is April 20.
A run-off election, if necessary, will take place Tuesday, June 16.
If there are partisan candidates in both primaries, those races will be decided as part of the general election Tuesday, Nov. 3.
