When voters choose the country’s president in November, they will also decide several state and local races across the region.
The qualifying period for the general election on Nov. 5 ended Friday.
Lowndes County voters will see four election commissioner races on their ballots, one of which is a special election. Theresa Hendrix runs unopposed for District 1. Yuvonda Youngblood, also unopposed, will retain her seat in District 3, and Octavia Dickerson runs with no challenger for District 5. Steve Porter runs unopposed for District 2 election commissioner in a special election.
Voters within the Lowndes County School District will see two school board seats on their ballots. Incumbents Wesley Barrett, representing District 3, and Robert Barksdale, representing District 4, both run unopposed.
Incumbent Will Porter has no competition in the special election for county prosecutor. The board of supervisors appointed Porter to the position in February after former prosecutor William Starks resigned to take a new job with the 16th Circuit District Attorney’s Office.
In Clay County, all but one county election commissioner seat are on the November ballot. Incumbent candidates for three of the districts are running again unopposed. Linda Ivy is running for District 1, Julie Gray for District 3 and Dorothy Heard for District 5.
Clay’s District 4 election commissioner will be decided in a special election. Sawana Walker Bean resigned from the seat last year to run for circuit clerk. Sonya Orr, who was appointed to the seat by the county board of supervisors in February 2023, is running unopposed for the seat this year.
For the District 3 election commissioner seat in Oktibbeha, Regina Evans faces Denny Daniels. Oktibbeha voters will also see Marnita Henderson running unopposed for District 1 election commissioner and Ernest Rogers for District 5 election commissioner, also with no opposition.
Noxubee County voters will cast their ballots in two local races for election commissioners. In District 5, incumbent John Bankhead faces Tony Henley. Incumbent Janice Harlan runs with no opposition for District 3 election commissioner.
State races
Noxubee County voters will decide the heavily contested District 1 Place 3 seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court. Presiding Justice Jim Kitchens, who was first elected to the seat in 2008, faces four opponents: Abby Gale Robinson of Jackson, Creola James of Vicksburg, Byron Carter of Byram and Jenifer Branning of Philadelphia.
For Supreme Court District 3, incumbent justices Robert “Bobby” Chamberlain, Place 1, and Jimmy Maxwell, Place 2, run unopposed on Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay county ballots.
A seat on the Mississippi Court of Appeals for Appeals District 3 will also be on the ballot in Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay and Noxubee counties. Presiding judge Jack Wilson, of Madison, runs unopposed for the Place 1 seat.
Two U.S. House races will be on area ballots in November. Democrat Dianne Black will take on Republican incumbent Trent Kelly in District 1, which includes Lowndes and Clay counties, as well as a portion of Oktibbeha. District 3, which includes Noxubee County and most of Oktibbeha, Republican incumbent Michael Guest runs unopposed.
For a seat in the U.S. Senate, Republican incumbent Roger Wicker looks to beat Democrat challenger Ty Pinkins. Voters in each of the four counties will cast a ballot in the race.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Nov. 5. The Dispatch will publish sample ballots leading up to the election.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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 31 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.