After several months of outlining campaign platforms and speaking with residents, the fate of mayoral and Ward 2 Councilman races will be in the hands of voters in Columbus Tuesday.
Incumbent Democrat Robert Smith is running to retain the mayor’s seat against challengers Glenn Lautzenhiser, a Republican, and Independent Bo Jarrett. Smith, whose tenure as mayor began in 2006, has previous political experience in Columbus as former Ward 1 councilman, where he served from 2001 until he was elected to his current post.
Lautzenhiser is a 20-plus-year member of the Columbus Municipal School District Board of Trustees.
Jarrett is a local business owner.
The Ward 2 race features candidates who have either previously led or are currently representing that ward.
Susan Mackay, who won a special election to fill the seat vacated by her husband Doug Mackay when he died in 2008, is running as a Republican. The person who defeated her in her re-election bid the following year, incumbent Joseph Mickens, is running for a second term as a Democrat.
If Mackay wins, two of the six council seats will change hands from the current term. Long-time incumbent Ward 4 Councilman Fred Stewart was ousted by challenger Marty Turner after a May 21 run-off. Two councilmen won their re-election bids. Kabir Karriem defeated Kenneth McFarland in the Ward 5 race and Bill Gavin retained his Ward 6 seat after defeating Whirllie Byrd. Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor and Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box ran unopposed.
Caledonia
Two candidates are vying for the mayoral seat in Caledonia with nine hopefuls running for five “at large” alderman seats.
Former Caledonia Mayor Bill Lawrence is running against first time candidate Susan Bell. Lawrence served as mayor from 2005-2009 when he was narrowly defeated by current mayor George Gerhart. Gerhart decided not to seek re-election.
A native Caledonian, Lawrence resides in Caledonia with his wife, Rissa.
Bell, a local business owner, moved to Caledonia in 1987. She was co-chairman of the 2012 Caledonia Day.
The five Caledonia alderman seats are all at-large positions, meaning the alderman do not represent specific areas of town.
Incumbents Bill Darnell, Steve Honnoll, Quinn Parham and Brenda Willis are battling challengers Matt Atkins, Brenda Spotts, Charlie Underhill, David Weathers and Mitch Wiggins. Current alderman Mike Savage decided not to seek reelection.
Voters will vote at Caledonia Town Hall. Mailed in absentee ballots are due Monday by 5 p.m.
Starkville
In Starkville, incumbent mayor Parker Wiseman faces a stiff challenge from Republican challenger Dan Moreland, whose constituency includes a trio of unlikely supporters — Democrats Roy A. Perkins, Henry Vaughn and Lisa Wynn, all of whom will serve on the Board of Aldermen when the new board is sworn in on July 1. All three have actively campaigned for Moreland, a local businessman and head of the Starkville Parks Commission, which has recently drawn scrutiny from an audit that showed sloppy accounting practices under Moreland’s tenure as director. Perkins and Vaughn are long-time aldermen while Wynn unseated incumbent Sandra Sistrunk in a special election on May 21 after the first election ended with no clear winner.
Staff writers Nathan Gregory, Sarah Fowler and Carl Smith contributed to this report.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.