Starkville’s first female mayor will run for re-election in 2021.
Mayor Lynn Spruill announced her candidacy in a press release Monday, in which she said she wants to focus on “continuing the growth in Starkville” if re-elected.
“I want to make sure our businesses and community recover and build back stronger from the COVID pandemic; complete the building of the Cornerstone Park Complex; and finish the annexation process,” she said. “I also want to lead our city in the process of developing and improving services in the northern part of the city.”
The announcement came two weeks before candidates will begin filing paperwork with the city clerk’s office to qualify for candidacy.
Additionally, five of the seven aldermen will defend their seats. The other two, David Little of Ward 3 and Jason Walker of Ward 4, said in November they will not seek re-election after each serving two terms.
Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver announced his re-election bid on Facebook in November, while Sandra Sistrunk of Ward 2, Hamp Beatty of Ward 5, Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins of Ward 6 and Henry Vaughn of Ward 7 all told The Dispatch that they will run again.
Sistrunk will be seeking a third term. She lost her re-election bid in 2013 to former alderman Lisa Wynn, whom she defeated in 2017 to regain her seat.
Beatty won a special election in May 2019 to succeed Patrick Miller, who resigned from the board to take a job in Biloxi.
Perkins will seek an eighth term, and Vaughn will seek a fourth term.
The qualifying period for city elections begins Jan. 4.
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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