Candidates qualify for county commission, board of education

Published 2:54 pm Friday, March 9, 2018

Tifton Democratic Party Chair Kristi Lamarca putting up the candidate list at the Tift County Courthouse on Mar. 9.

TIFTON — Qualifying for the upcoming May 22 election has ended and the candidate lists are out.

For County Commission District 1, incumbent Donnie Hester (D) is being challenged by Raymond Teal Sr. (D).

Robert Setters (R), who holds the district 3 seat on the county commission, is being challenged by Tony McBrayer (R).

County Commission District 4 seat is a four way race, with incumbent Stan Stalnaker (R) being challenged by Jonathan Cassell (R), Jamie Cater (R) and Ronald Norman (R).

Greg Wood (R), district 6 county commissioner, is being challenged by Lester Potts (R).

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The Tift County Board of Education also has four seats on the ballot.

John W. Smith (D), representing district 2, is running unopposed.

The district 4 seat, currently held by Keith Barr, who is not running for reelection, is being sought by Richard Golden (R) and Jamie Hill (R).

Jarrett Haswell (R) and Sam Wright (R) are both running for the district 5 seat, which is currently held by Marian Richbourg, who is not running for reelection.

Melanie Roberson’s district 6 seat is being sought by Jimmy Cargle (R), Rusty Harrelson (R) and Jo Windom (R). Roberson is not running for reelection.

Incumbent Jason K. Hoffman (R) is running unopposed for the office of solicitor general, and incumbent Herbert Benson is running unopposed for state court judge.

Judge of Superior Court for Tifton, Bill Reinhardt, is running unopposed for his office, as is Alapaha Judge of Superior Court Howard McClain.

State Senator for District 13, Republican Greg Kirk, is running unopposed for his Senate seat.

Also running unopposed are incumbents District 170 State Representative Penny Houston (R), District 172 State Representative Sam Watson (R) and District 155 State Representative Clay Pirkle (R).

Current District 8 United States Representative Austin Scott is being challenged by fellow Republicans Vance Deal and Danny Ellyson.

The state governor’s race is a full ticket this year.

For the Republicans, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, Eddie Hayes, Hunter Hill, Secretary of State Brian Kemp, Clay Tippins, Mark Urbach and Michael Williams have qualified.

The Democrats are fielding Stacey Abrams and Stacey Evans.

For lieutenant governor, Democrats Sarah Riggs Amico and Triana Arnold James and Republicans Geoff Duncan, Rick Jeffares and David Shafer are running.

Democrats John Barrow, Dee Dawkins-Haigler and Rakeim “RJ” Hadley and Republicans Buzz Brockway, David Belle Isle, Josh McKoon and Brad Raffensperger are running for secretary of state.

Attorney general is being sought by Democrat Charlie Bailey and Republican Chris Carr.

Democrat Fred Swann and incumbent Gary Black, a Republican, are running for commissioner of agriculture.

Democrats Cindy Zeldin and Janice Laws and Republicans Jim Beck, Jay Florence and Tracy Jordan are running for commissioner of insurance.

State school superintendent is being sought by Democrats Sid Chapman, Sam Mosteller and Otha E. Thornton Jr. and Republicans John Barge, Dr. Sonia Francis-Rolle and incumbent Richard Woods.

Democrats Richard Keatley and Fred Quinn and Republican incumbent Mark Butler are running for commissioner of labor.

Follow Eve Guevara on Twitter @EveGuevaraTTG.