Tuesday’s primary elections could settle four Oktibbeha County races and bring clarity to others.
Both parties will elect state and county-wide representatives tomorrow for the November general election. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.
The primaries could serve as the de facto elections for four seats, as some Oktibbeha County candidates do not face an out-of-party challenger or are running unopposed.
One race — incumbent Curtis Randle’s and challenger Andre Quinn’s head-to-head Democratic primary for District 2’s constable seat — will conclude since no other challengers emerged during this year’s qualifying period.
Three other races — elections for District 1 justice court, District 2 justice court and District 5 supervisor — could also conclude if one of each races’ multiple candidates captures a majority of Tuesday’s vote.
If one candidate in a three-person-or-more race does not capture a majority — 50 percent of the day’s tally plus one vote — a runoff between the top two vote-getters will be held Aug. 25.
In focus: Local Democratic races
District 5’s supervisor seat is up for grabs as incumbent Joe Williams faces fellow Democrats Sylvester “Dewayne” Davis and Ernest Rogers Jr.
Williams, a school counselor, emerged second out of six contenders in 2011’s Democratic primary and went on to oust incumbent John Young in a runoff by 50 votes.
Davis, 46, is an 18-year veteran with the Starkville Fire Department, and Rogers, 27, is a business owner and freelance graphics designer.
Justice Court Judges William “Tony” Boykin and W. Bernard Crump both face two opponents in Tuesday’s Democratic primary after running unopposed in 2011’s general election.
In District 1, candidates Jessie Collier and Gay Lynn Williams are vying for Boykin’s seat, while Crump is challenged by Larnzy Carpenter and Kennedy Neal for District 2’s judgeship.
Boykin, 72, has served as a justice for almost 40 years.
Background information for Crump, also a long-serving judge, was unavailable at press time.
Collier, 20, is the youngest candidate in the county-wide election. She is a Mississippi State University student majoring in chemistry, foreign language and finance.
Williams serves as a deputy justice court clerk.
Carpenter, 52, holds a doctorate in theology and has 30 years of law enforcement experience.
Neal, 50, is OCH Regional Medical Center’s director of environmental services.
The field of four Democrats vying for District 3’s justice court post will also narrow to at least one candidate Tuesday.
Incumbent Judge James “Jim” Mills is up against challenges from Starkville attorney C. Martin Haug, former Sturgis Police Chief W.L. “Will” Hutchinson and Cheikh Taylor, the executive director of the non-profit Brickfire project.
The winner of Tuesday’s race — or of a needed runoff — will face Republican Buddy Johnston and independent Hardy Mitchell in November.
Mills secured his seat in 2011 by defeating Johnston and independent Randall McClelland. He secured 1,237 votes that year, outpacing his closest opponent, Johnston, by about 250 votes.
Haug, 38, is the only attorney running in the three justice court races; Hutchinson, 52, is an Oktibbeha County road foreman and previously lost a 2003 Democratic primary for District 4 supervisor to David Oswalt; Mills, 78, has served as a justice since 1973 and is a former Starkville alderman; and Taylor, 41, is a part owner of Level III, a Main Street entertainment venue.
Johnston, the lone Republican in the race, is 63. Mitchell, 62, owns Shipley Donuts and is a school bus driver.
Tuesday’s District 2 Supervisor primary could also pick the Democrat to face 55-year-old independent Robert “Bubba” Gray Jr. in November.
Orlando Trainer, the incumbent and president of the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors, faces intra-party challenges from Gene Autry Perry, 65, and Tremell Orlando Sherman, 30.
Trainer, 41, won 2011’s Democratic primary against Sherman and Alfreda Outlaw with 63 percent of the combined 1,184 votes cast, then defeated Gray with 67 percent of the overall vote. The incumbent also beat Perry in 2007’s Democratic primary.
Gray and Trainer are both farmers, and the incumbent also drives a school bus for the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District; Perry has worked in the construction industry for years and Sherman is an insurance agent.
Randle, 50, won 2007’s general election for District 2’s constable position by defeating Republican Tim Cook by about 900 votes. The incumbent also serves as a battalion chief for SFD.
Quinn, 35, operates Quinn Dirt Service and is a deputy within the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department.
In focus: Local GOP races
While Tuesday’s Republican primary will not decide overall election winners, the results will set the table for key races in November.
One of tomorrow’s biggest races will decide if Bart Gregory or Bricklee Miller, both Republicans, will face District 4 Supervisor Daniel Jackson, a 35-year-old Democrat, in November.
Gregory, 38, serves as an assistant athletic director at Mississippi State University and as a radio and TV sports broadcaster, while Miller, 46, leads the Mississippi Horse Park.
Gregory has held a significant lead in campaign contributions over the other 43 county candidates this year. His July 28 financial statements listed his year-to-date contributions total at $17,144.
Combined, Gregory and Miller have reportedly raised almost one-third of the combined $64,000 reported by all candidates this year.
Sturgis Police Chief Kenneth Doug Hamilton, 57, faces Pollan Management Company President and CEO Chris Pollan, 42, for the right to represent the GOP against Democrat Michael Hunt, who has served as coroner for 20 years.
Hamilton, the brother of Circuit Clerk Glenn Hamilton, is a 32-year law enforcement veteran, while Pollan is a licensed funeral director and embalmer; a fraud examiner; forensic accountant and the owner of Pollan Promos.
First-term incumbent Glenn Hamilton faces an intra-GOP challenge Tuesday from Michael Campbell.
Hamilton, 59, is a former State Parole Board chairman and state senator, won his seat in 2011’s general election by defeating Democrat Teresa Davis-Roberson by about 1,000 votes.
Campbell, 39, is a self-described blue-collar worker and U.S. Army veteran.
The winner of the race will face Democrat E. Regina Evans, a former chief deputy within the circuit clerk’s office, in November.
In focus: Area races
Tuesday’s results will decide which Starkville Republican — attorney Rob Roberson or restaurateur Mac Smith — will face Democrat Paul Millsaps, another Starkville lawyer, in November’s general election for District 43’s state representative’s seat.
The district was left without a representative after its lines were redrawn, and it encompasses portions of Oktibbeha and Winston counties.
Roberson, 46, represented the former District 37 from 1999-2004 and previously served as a Starkville alderman. Smith, 54, is a general manager at The Little Dooey.
Millsaps, 62, is the former owner of Millsaps Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick and GMC.
The Roberson-Smith race is the only regional primary of significance, as Democrat Cecil Simmons’ and Republican state Sen. Gary Jackson’s election for District 15 isn’t until November.
Other area lawmakers — including state Sen. Angela Turner and state Rep. Tyrone Ellis — are unopposed this cycle.
The Golden Triangle’s district attorney position, which pits incumbent Forrest Allgood against Democrat Scott Colom, is the area’s featured race.
Allgood, 61, dumped the Democratic Party this year and is running as an independent. He has held the District 16 position since 1989.
Colom, 32, serves as prosecutor for Columbus and is a former Aberdeen municipal judge.
In focus: Other November races, unopposed candidates
Thirteen Oktibbeha Candidates will breathe easy Tuesday since they’re unopposed in the day’s primaries and won’t face and election test until November.
A rematch of 2011’s tightest race — the District 3 showdown between incumbent Marvell Howard, a Democrat, and Republican Dennis “Denny” Daniels — is again expected to be the year’s closest competition.
Howard secured a second term that year, by defeating Daniels by three votes. His Republican challenger previously staved off his GOP opposition, Benny L. Perkins, with a 404-172 margin in the GOP primary.
Both men have military ties. Howard, 56, served in the U.S. Army, while Daniels, 45, joined the Mississippi Army National Guard.
In District 1, first-term Supervisor John Montgomery, a Republican, faces retired mail carrier and farmer Donald Thompson.
Montgomery, 37, serves as a Starkville firefighter and owns Montgomery Lawn Maintenance. His 61-year-old Democratic opponent graduated Maben High School and attended both Wood Junior College and MSU.
The county’s top law enforcement officer, Sheriff Steve Gladney, faces former Chief Deputy George Carrithers in the general election.
Both men first qualified as Democrats, but Carrithers switched to the GOP before the end of qualification.
Carrithers, 61, served as former Sheriff Dolph Bryan’s right-hand man for decades until Gladney defeated the incumbent, who took office in 1976, by about 400 votes in the Democratic Party’s runoff election four years ago.
Gladney, now 59, would go on to win the 2011 general election, defeating Republican Rudy Johnson.
Another first-term incumbent, Republican Tax Assessor Allen Morgan, faces a re-election bid.
Morgan, 60, who previously worked for 29 years with the State Tax Commission, is challenged by 58-year-old Democrat John Brown, who has 22 years of public service under his belt.
District 3’s constable seat features a race between long-serving incumbent James Lindsey, a Democrat, and Cook.
Cook, a 38-year-old Republican who works as an Oktibbeha County sheriff’s deputy, qualified for District 2’s race, but redistricting showed he now lives in District 3.
Lindsey has run unopposed since 2003.
Opposition to re-election bids by Prosecutor Haley Brown, District 1 Constable Shank Phelps and Surveyor Tom Gregory failed to materialize by the end of qualification. Chancery Clerk Monica Banks is also running unopposed after her former opponent, Michael Womack, dropped out of the Republican primary.
Oktibbeha County polling precincts
Oktibbeha County voters can go to the polls from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to cast their ballots at 21 polling precincts. All voters will need a photo ID to cast a ballot.
■ West Starkville
National Guard Armory, 343 Highway 12 West
■ North Longview
Longview Fire Station, 2168 Highway 12 West
■ South Adaton
Adaton Baptist Church, 1975 Highway 82 West
■ Self Creek/Double Spring
Fire Station Turner Road, 3407 Highway 82 West, Maben
■ Hickory Grove/Southeast
East Oktibbeha Fire Station, Old Highway 82
■ North Starkville 2
Mt. Pelier Baptist Church, 840 North Jackson St.
■ Northeast Starkville
Humphrey Coliseum, 55 Coliseum Blvd., Mississippi State
■ Osborn
Fire Station 16th Section Road
■ Bell School House
Bell School House Fire Station, 221 Highway 389
■ Center Grove/North Adaton
Adaton Fire Station, 2237 Reed Road
■ East Starkville
Humphrey Coliseum, 55 Coliseum Blvd, MSU
■ Maben
Maben Fire Station, 4026 2nd Ave., Maben
■ North Starkville 3
Fire Station No. 5, 102 West Garrard Road
■ South Starkville
Starkville Sportsplex, 405 Lynn Lane
■ South Longview
Longview Fire Station, 2168 Highway 12 West
■ Craig Springs/South Bradley
Craig Springs Fire Station, 2199 Craig Springs Road, Sturgis
■ Sturgis/North Bradley
Sturgis Fire Station, 2729 Montgomery St., Sturgis
■ Central Starkville
Circuit Court Annex, 108 West Main Street
■ Needmore Center
Gillespie Street Center, 610 East Gillespie St.
■ Oktoc
Oktoc Fire Station, Oktoc Road
■ Sessums
Sessums Fire Station, 3100 Turkey Creek Road
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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