3 seats to be contested in May election
MOULTRIE, Ga. — Six of seven candidates currently running to fill an unexpired term on the county commission have qualified to run for that seat’s next full term.
Jeron Bridges, Darius Dawson, Barbara Jelks, Susie Magwood-Thomas and James Weeks all qualified last week as Democrats for the Colquitt County Commission District 1 seat.
Stacey Williams qualified as the only Republican in that race.
Those six plus William Pittman Jr. are running to fill the unexpired term of Luke Strong Jr., who held the District 1 seat until he died in September. That non-partisan election will be held March 20; early voting started Feb. 20 and will end March 16. If any one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, he or she will be sworn in right after the votes are certified by the Secretary of State’s office. Otherwise, the two with the most votes will face off in a runoff April 17, and the winner of the runoff will be sworn in shortly thereafter.
The winner of that special election will serve until the end of this year.
Primary elections for both Democrats and Republicans will be held May 22. On that day, the qualifying Democrats will compete against one another. The winner of that contest will face Williams in the general election in November. Whoever wins in November will take office in January 2019 for four years.
In addition to the District 1 seat, three other seats on the county commission are up for election this year. The District 7 seat, the commission chairman, will have opposition.
Denver Floyd Braswell, of Lenox, qualified to challenge Terry Clark, of Moultrie, the incumbent. Both are running as Republicans, so whichever wins in May will face no opposition in November.
Incumbents Marc DeMott and Paul Nagy qualified for the District 3 and District 5 seats without opposition. Both qualified as Republicans.
Also on May 22, county residents will vote in non-partisan elections for Colquitt County Board of Education and chief magistrate judge. Those races will be included on both Democrat and Republican ballots, so all voting will take place at the same time.
One school board seat will be contested. Incumbent Patricia Anderson of Moultrie faces a challenge from Charlton Tyler of Moultrie in the District 5 race.
Trudie Hill, of District 1, and Robby Lee Pitts, of District 4, qualified for re-election without opposition.
Incumbent Jeremy James McMillan, of Moultrie, qualified as the only candidate for chief magistrate judge.
Winners of the non-partisan elections will take office in January.