Featured
Third Week of the Qualification Period Nets Just a Couple of New Candidates
By Alyssa Schnugg
News editor
There is one more week for Lafayette County residents to qualify for local elections.
The qualification period began on Jan. 3 and ends at 5 p.m. on Feb. 1.
The hottest race thus far is for District 3 Supervisor that now has five candidates vying for the seat, including Incumbent David Rikard.
The races for Circuit Court Clerk, County Attorney, Sheriff, two of three Constable seats, two of three Justice Court Judge seats and Chancery Clerk all have just one opponent thus far.
The District 5 Supervisor race has the second-highest number of candidates with four people hoping to take over the seat left open by the current Supervisor Mike Roberts who announced he would not be seeking re-election but is instead, running for Chancery Clerk.
Qualifying as of Friday, Jan. 20 for county elections:
- Circuit Court Clerk: Incumbent Court Clerk Jeff Busy
- County Attorney: Incumbent Attorney Jay Chain
- Sheriff: Incumbent Sheriff Joey East
- Justice Court Judge-Northern District: LaSonja “Sue” Pettis (no incumbent)
- Justice Court Judge-Central District: Incumbent Judge Mickey Avent
- Justice Court Judge-Southern: Incumbent Judge Johnny Wayne McLarty and Benjamin
Justus - Board of Supervisors:
- District
1 – Incumbent Supervisor Brent Larson and Anthony Cox - District
2- Incumbent Supervisor Larry Gillespie and Avery Dunn - District
3 – Incumbent Supervisor David Rikard, Dale Timothy Gordon, Larandust
Coleman, Will Tidwell and Josh Thweatt - District
4 – Incumbent Supervisor Chad McLarty, Scott Allen and Derek Mooney - District
5 – Mike Fortner, Greg Bynum, Don Mason and Jason Kent (no incumbent)
- Constable-North: Incumbent Constable Greg Pettis
- Constable-Central:Incumbent Constable Kenneth Drewery and Lee Durham
- Constable-South: Incumbent Constable Jack Theobald
- Chancery Clerk: Mike Roberts
- TaxAssessor/Collector: Rocky Kennedy and Shelia Busby Kelly (no incumbent)
- Election Commission: District 2 – Erin Smith; District 4 – Laura Antonow
- Coroner: Glenn Coleman, Marilyn P. Delbridge and Shawn Bennett
State
Elections
- Governor: Incumbent Republican Tate Reeves and Republican Dr. John Witcher and
Democrats Brandon Presley and Gregory Wash - Lt. Governor: Incumbent Delbert Hosemann and Shane Quick, both Republican
- Senate 9: Incumbent Nicole Boyd and Ricky Caldwell, both Republicans
- House of Representatives District 12: Clay Deweese
If someone is running as a political party candidate – Republican or Democrat – they need to pay a fee ($50 to $250, depending on the office). Independent candidates must have 50 signatures from qualified electors of the district for county-wide seats.
District seats only require 15 signatures.
The primary will be on Aug. 8 with the primary runoff on Aug. 29. The General Election will be on Nov. 7 with the general election runoff on Nov. 28.
Hotty Toddy News will provide a weekly update on Mondays on who qualifies to run for a local office during the qualification period.
| Sat, Aug 31 |  | vs Furman | W, 76-0 |
| Sat, Sep 7 |  | vs Middle Tennessee | W, 52-3 |
| Sat, Sep 14 |  | @ Wake Forest | W, 40-6 |
| Sat, Sep 21 |  | vs Georgia Southern | W, 52-13 |
| Sat, Sep 28 |  | vs Kentucky | L, 20-17 |
| Sat, Oct 5 |  | @ South Carolina | W, 27-3 |
| Sat, Oct 12 |  | vs LSU | L, 29-26 (2 OT) |
| Sat, Oct 26 |  | vs Oklahoma | W, 26-14 |
| Sat, Nov 2 |  | @ Arkansas | W, 63-35 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Georgia | W, 28-10 |
| Sat, Nov 23 |  | @ Florida | L, 24-17 |
| Sat, Nov 30 |  | vs Mississippi State | W, 26-14 |