A flurry of late qualifications has added five new candidates to four of Columbus’ municipal races, as 21 total candidates met Friday’s 5 p.m. qualification deadline.
Carl Lee, 60, entered the mayoral race as a Democratic challenger to incumbent Mayor Robert Smith. Lee is a consultant and Columbus native.
Lee previously sought the mayoral office in the late 1990s. Regardless of the outcome, he said he wants to be part of a discussion that may lead to solutions for the challenges the city faces.
“We continue to have chief of police after chief of police, but we have the same mayor,” Lee said. “We have no economic development in the city limits at all — not even retail.
“If I am the mayor and crime is going up, population is going down, the number of jobs is going down and quality of those jobs is going down just in the city limits, then I am the problem,” Lee continued. “I want to offer myself to say ‘Can we find the solution?’ because we clearly don’t have it today. I’m not suggesting that I am the solution, but I’m suggesting that I’m willing to be a part of the solution.”
Lee is the third Democrat in the mayoral race, along with Smith and former police chief Selvain McQueen.
Smith, who is seeking his third full term, took office in October 2006 to serve a partial term after former mayor Jeffrey Rupp vacated the position. He has since served two full terms.
The three candidates will face off in a May 2 primary election. If no candidate earns more than 50 percent of the vote, the two with the most votes will advance to a May 16 runoff.
The winner of the Democratic primary will advance to face Republican candidate Garthia Halbert and independent Montrell Coburn in June’s general election.
Gavin picks up challengers
Two Democrats have entered the Ward 6 council race to challenge Bill Gavin.
Whirllie Byrd, a member of the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau board, and Andre Roberts, a security officer at Leigh Mall, will vie to face off against the incumbent Republican.
Byrd, 65, unsuccessfully challenged Gavin for the Republican nomination in the 2012 municipal election.
She said she wants to improve quality of life — including increasing recreation access in north Columbus and working with local nonprofits — and to bolster infrastructure improvement in the city. Byrd said she also hopes to work closely with the police department to improve access to resources and find ways to address the city’s crime problems.
“I want to level off some of the discord that can come across on the council — not that everyone is going to agree on everything,” she said. “But how can we get past some of the irrelevant issues that come to the table that don’t have to be there? I don’ t want to be part of the fray, but part of the solution.”
Roberts, 43, has twice mounted unsuccessful bids for Lowndes County chancery clerk. He said he seeks the Ward 6 seat because he feels he can draw attention to the challenges facing the city.
“One thing I’ve learned is that if you have no title in this world, you can say something and people will look over it,” Roberts said. “If you have a title, people will listen and be moved. It’s the power of the platform.”
Roberts said he specifically hopes to focus on improving job availability and access in the city, and to work to improve the city’s streets and other infrastructure.
Gavin is seeking his third full term in office.
Challenger in Ward 3 race
Charlotte Braxton Verdell entered the Ward 3 council race as a Democrat to challenge incumbent Republican Charlie Box.
Verdell, a 37-year-old chemist at Southern Ionics Research and Development Center, said she wants to focus on improving community unity.
“I want to help strengthen and fortify the city more, in gathering and getting the communities together,” Verdell said. “In Ward 3 and the entire city, I want to help bring families back together and to have that sense of togetherness and strength.
“This is our city, and we can all make it better,” she added.
Verdell has lived in Columbus for 27 years. She’s the president of the Columbus Municipal School District’s parent teacher organization, and she said she wants to work to improve education in the city.
“The future, the upcoming generation, is a concern for me,” she said. “That’s something where we need to get in and do whatever we can to help education and our school district.”
Verdell and Box are the only candidates in the Ward 3 race. They will face off in the June general election.
Other ward races
Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens is facing two challengers in his bid for his third term. Troy Miller, a local communications worker and pastor of Woodlawn CME Church in Macon, qualified in January to face Mickens.
Eric Thomas recently qualified for the race, but he could not be reached for comment by press time. Every candidate in the Ward 2 race is a Democrat.
Incumbent Democrat Ward 4 Councilman Marty Turner, who is seeking his second term, faces three Democratic challengers.
Fredrick Jackson, an Allstate insurance agent, entered the race in February. Lavonne Latham-Harris, a cosmetologist and president of the Lowndes County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, qualified in January, as did Pierre D. Beard. No Republicans entered the Ward 4 race.
Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor, an incumbent Democratic, is seeking his third full term. He is running unopposed.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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