About three-fourths of Oktibbeha’s 44 county-wide candidates met Friday’s deadline for campaign finance reports, according to a review of those records at the circuit clerk’s office last week.
Six incumbents and four contenders — including District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer and candidate Tremell Sherman; District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams and candidate Ernest Rogers Jr.; Chancery Clerk Monica Banks; District 3 Justice Court Judge Jim Mills and candidate Cheikh Taylor; District 2 Constable Curtis Randle and candidate Andre Quinn; and Coroner Michael Hunt — failed to meet the 5 p.m. deadline.
Candidates for local and statewide races are required by law to report campaign expenditures at regular intervals. During the first reporting date, which covered campaign finance records from Jan. 1 through April 30, 13 of Oktibbeha County’s then 45 candidates missed the May 8 deadline.
Nineteen candidates have either missed a deadline, failed to turn in a report or both across three reporting deadlines.
Since February’s qualification window closed, only Republican Chancery Clerk candidate Michael Womack has dropped out of the race.
The 34 candidates filling on time have reported $50,873.44 in combined campaign contributions this election cycle.
Adding the previous year-to-date totals from past filings of candidates that missed the deadline increases that figure to almost $54,000.
Bart Gregory, a Republican candidate for District 3’s supervisor post, has raised $12,845 this election cycle, the most of any other person seeking office. The candidate with the second-highest donation total is C. Martin Haug, a Democrat attorney running for District 3’s justice court seat, with $7,644.
Gregory’s reported $8,110.32 tally is also the highest-reported total expenditures of all the candidates. The second-highest total reported was Bricklee Miller’s $7,631.42 mark.
Miller is Gregory’s opponent in the Aug. 4 GOP primary.
Twenty-one candidates have reported raising no money this election cycle, while 14 said they have not spent any money on campaigning.
Only Chancery Clerk Monica Banks, County Prosecutor Haley Brown, Surveyor Tom Gregory and District 1 Constable Shank Phelps are unopposed this election.
Year-to-date contributions to Oktibbeha candidates
District 1 Supervisor
■ GOP John Montgomery (I) – $2,700
■ DEM Donald Thompson – 400
District 2 Supervisor
■ DEM Robert “Bubba” Gray Jr. $0
■ DEM Gene Autry Perry – 0
■ DEM Tremell Sherman – 0
■ DEM Orlando Trainer (I) – 0
District 3 Supervisor
■ GOP Denny Daniels – $300
■ DEM Marvell Howard (I) – 782
District 4 Supervisor
■ GOP Bart Gregory – $12,845
■ DEM Daniel Jackson (I) – 0
■ GOP Bricklee Miller – 1,500
District 5 Supervisor
■ DEM Sylvester Davis – $664
■ DEM Ernest Rogers Jr. – 0
■ DEM Joe Williams (I) – 0
Circuit Clerk
■ GOP Michael Campbell – $0
■ DEM E. Regina Evans – 749
■ GOP Glenn Hamilton (I) – 0
Chancery Clerk
■ DEM Monica Banks (I) – $300
Tax assessor
■ DEM John Brown – $0
■ GOP Allen Morgan (I) – 100
Sheriff
■ GOP George Carrithers – $6,549.40
■ DEM Steve Gladney (I) – 2,000
District 1 Justice Court
■ DEM William “Tony” Boykin Jr. (I) – $0
■ DEM Jessi Collier – 360.18
■ DEM Gay Lynn Williams – 100
District 2 Justice Court
■ DEM Larnzy Carpenter – $6,233.50
■ DEM W. Bernard Crump (I) – 150
■ DEM Kennedy Neal – 1851.36
District 3 Justice Court
■ DEM C. Martin Haug – $7,644
■ DEM W.L. “Will” Hutchinson – 0
■ GOP Buddy Johnston – 125
■ DEM James “Jim” Mills (I) – 0
■ IND Hardy Mitchell – 0
■ DEM Cheikh Taylor – 2,206.30
Coroner
■ GOP Doug Hamilton – $200
■ DEM Michael Hunt (I) – 0
■ GOP Chris Pollan – 5,620
Prosecutor
■ DEM Haley Brown (I) – 0
District 1 Constable
■ GOP Shank Phelps (I) – 0
District 2 Constable
■ DEM Andre Quinn – $500
■ DEM Curtis Randle – 0
District 3 Constable
■ GOP Tim Cook – $0
■ DEM James Lindsey (I) – 0
Surveyor
■ DEM Tom Gregory (I) – 0
Year-to-date contribution totals for Banks, Hunt, Mills, Quinn, Randle, Taylor, Trainer and Williams were procured from their second campaign finance reports as the candidates did not submit documents at the most-recent deadline. Haley Brown, Crump and Phelps have all filed termination reports, meaning they agree not to take in or spend any more money on their respective campaigns this election cycle.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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