Twenty-four Democrats, 14 Republicans and two independents tossed their hats into the races for 18 elected Oktibbeha County positions before Friday’s qualification window closed.
All but four of the county’s elected seats are challenged: Opponents to Prosecutor Haley Brown, Surveyor Tom Gregory, District 3 Constable James Lindsey and District 1 Constable Shank Phelps failed to materialize by the 5 p.m. deadline.
Brown was named interim in 2013 after long-serving Prosecutor Roy Carpenter Jr. announced his mid-term retirement. She won that year’s special election with almost 70 percent of the ballot.
Phelps was elected to his first term in 2011, defeating Democrat Curtis White, while Lindsey has run unopposed in the last three November elections.
Gregory ran unopposed in the last countywide election.
District 2 race doubles
All five incumbent district supervisors face re-election campaigns this year, and the race for District 2’s seat doubled this week as two new candidates emerged.
First-term District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery, a Republican, faces his first re-election campaign after Democrat Donald Thompson, a retired rural mail carrier, qualified earlier this month.
District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer, the longest-serving member and president of the board of supervisor, faces a primary battle against fellow Democrats, Gene Autry Perry, a local construction business operator, and Tremell Orlando Sherman, an insurance agent.
The winner of that race will then face independent candidate Robert “Bubba” Lee Gray Jr. in November’s general election.
Trainer previously defeated Gray, who ran in 2007 as a Republican, by almost 700 votes. He also defeated both Perry and Sherman in previous Democratic primaries.
A rematch of the tightly contested District 3 race between incumbent Marvell Howard, a Democrat, and Republican Denny Daniels is also set for November.
Howard edged out Daniels by three votes in 2011.
Two Republicans with Mississippi State University ties – broadcaster Bart Gregory and Bricklee Miller, who serves as the Miss. Horse Park’s facility manager – will meet in the August primary to become District 4’s GOP candidate.
The winner of that race will then face incumbent Democrat Daniel Jackson in November.
Jackson defeated Miller by almost 450 votes in 2011.
A three-way Democratic primary for District 5’s seat manifested after incumbent Joe Williams, Starkville firefighter Sylvester “Dewayne” Davis and political newcomer Ernest Rogers Jr. filed their respective qualification forms.
Davis is an 18-year veteran of Starkville Fire Department; Rogers, 27, is employed by the Lowndes County School District; and Williams earned his seat by defeating Democrat John Young in 2011’s primary.
Crowded justice court races
Twelve candidates are now competing for three justice court judge seats this election cycle.
In District 1, incumbent Judge William “Tony” Boykin Jr. will face Gay Lynn Williams, a deputy court clerk, and first-time candidate Jessi A. Collier in the Democratic primary.
Collier declined to comment when contacted by The Dispatch.
Another three-way Democratic primary will decide District 2’s seat as incumbent Judge W. Bernard Crump faces challenges from Larnzy Carpenter, a former U.S. Marine with ties to county law enforcement, and Kennedy Neal, a long-time employee of OCH Regional Medical Center.
District 3’s race expanded again this week and now features six total candidates.
Republican Buddy Johnston and Hardy Mitchell, an independent candidate who owns Shipley Do-Nuts, will face the winner of a four-way Democratic primary between incumbent Judge James “Jim” Mills, local attorney C. Martin Haug, former Sturgis Police Chief W.L. “Will” Hutchinson and Cheikh A. Taylor, the executive director of the non-profit Brickfire project and part owner of Level III, a Main Street entertainment venue.
Mills previously defeated independent Randall McClelland and Johnston in 2011’s election.
Haug is the only attorney out of the justice court judge candidate pool.
Constable race
Two Democrats – incumbent Curtis D. Randle and challenger Andre Quinn – previously qualified for District 2’s constable position and will face each other in August’s primary.
The winner will then face Republican Tim Cook in November.
Primaries are scheduled for Aug. 4, and the general election will be held Nov. 3.
Administrators face challengers
Three top-level county administrators – Oktibbeha’s tax assessor and its circuit and chancery clerks – now face election challenges this cycle.
First-term Circuit Clerk Glenn Hamilton, a Republican, faces a party primary against Michael Jason Campbell, a U.S. Army veteran and welder.
The winner of that race will face Democrat E. Regina Evans in November.
Hamilton ran in 2011 after then-Circuit Clerk Angie McGinnis announced she would not seek re-election. He defeated Democrat Teresa Davis-Roberson by almost 600 votes.
Evans worked for years in the circuit clerk’s office and served as a chief deputy during the McGinnis administration.
Chancery Clerk Monica Banks, a Democrat, is launching her first re-election campaign since 2007 after Republican Michael Womack qualified last month for the race.
Banks was elected Oktibbeha County’s first African-American chancery clerk in 1995. In her last contest, she defeated Republican Debra Prisock Wood by almost 800 votes.
Womack has worked as a paramedic for area hospitals.
Tax Assessor Allen Morgan, a Republican who was previously unopposed, now faces a November general election campaign against Democrat John S. Brown.
In 2011, Morgan defeated Lisa Wynn, who now serves as Starkville’s Ward 2 alderman, by almost 2,000 votes.
A call to Brown went unreturned as of press time.
Current, past administration faces off for sheriff
The race for Oktibbeha County’s top law enforcement position pits Sheriff Steve Gladney against former Chief Deputy George Carrithers in November’s general election.
Carrithers served as former Sheriff Dolph Bryan’s right-hand man for decades until Gladney defeated the former sheriff in 2011’s Democratic primary runoff election.
He would go onto secure his seat by defeating Republican Rudy Johnson in that year’s general election.
Carrithers qualified as a Democrat in January but switched to the Republican Party this month.
Three up for coroner
Oktibbeha County Coroner Michael Hunt, a Democrat, will face the winner of August’s Republican primary between Doug Hamilton and Chris Pollan.
Hunt previously defeated GOP nominee Billy Miller by almost 4,000 votes in the last election cycle.
Doug Hamilton, the brother of Glenn Hamilton, serves as Sturgis’ police chief and is a 32-year veteran of the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
Pollan, a licensed funeral director and embalmer, spent 10 years examining financial institutions as a forensic and fraud specialist.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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