Election 2018: Looking at who qualified in each local race

Published 5:32 pm Friday, March 9, 2018

Qualifying ended on Friday at noon and several local incumbents will be challenged in the upcoming election.

Troup County Commission Chair Patrick Crews will be challenged by former commissioner Tripp Foster in the Republican primary on May 22. Incumbent Richard English will run unopposed as a Democrat for the district 5 seat on the county commission.

Two vacated positions on the Troup County School Board will also be up for grabs. Jay W. Russell and Rebecca Buchanan Grubbs have qualified to run for the district four seat on the school board. Elijah Kresses, Maiya A. Dowell and Tanya K. Jones-Cameron are running for the district seven seat. Neither Ted Alford, who represents district 4, or Alfred McNair, who represents district 7, ran for re-election. McNair has served on the board since 1988, and Alford is a long-time educator who has served on the board since 2011.

Incumbent Allen Simpson will run unopposed for the district 1 seat on the school board. Since they are non-partisan, the school board elections will take place May 22. Simpson has served on the board since 2012, according to the TCSS website.

Incumbent Vickie Sue McWaters was the only qualifier for the judge of magistrate court position.

STATEWIDE — LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES

Rep. Randy Nix, who represents district 69 in the Georgia House of Representatives, will run unopposed. Incumbent Bob Trammell will run unopposed in the Democratic primary, but he will be challenged by Republican Leonard Gomez in November’s general election. Trammell is the current House minority leader.

In district 133, incumbent John Pezold decided not to run for re-election. Republicans Christopher Gyening and Vance Smith will face off for that position.

In the Georgia Senate, incumbent Matt Brass, a Republican, will run unopposed in district 28.

Incumbent Josh McKoon decided to run for secretary of state, so district 29 will have a new representative. Ben Anderson and Valerie Haskins will battle it out in the Democratic primary, while Mayo “Biff” Hadden and Randy Robertson do the same on the Republican side.

FEDERAL — LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES

Rep. Drew Ferguson will have three challengers to represent district 3 in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ferguson, who previously served as the mayor of West Point, was elected to his current position in 2016.

He will be challenged by Philip Singleton, a U.S. Army veteran, in the Republican primary in May. Chuck Enderlin, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, will face off with Rusty Oliver, a science teacher with two decades of education experience, in the Democratic primary.

The date for primary and non-partisan elections is May 22. The final date to register to vote for that election is April 24. The general election will be held Nov. 6.  All information on qualification is from Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s website.