Qualifying wraps with competitive primaries
Voters to choose candidates for State House and Senate, County Commission and more
The week of qualifying for local and state offices in Polk County brought about some surprises, newcomers and well-known faces seeking to get on the primary ballot in May.
Board of Elections officials were busy last week sitting down with candidates and taking up their paperwork and fees to seek seats on the local level all the while the first week of early voting for the presidential primary got underway at Cedartown and Rockmart precincts. Before the week was over, Polk County would be supplied with five different contested races for local and state offices.
A few surprises among the mix were County Commission Chair Jennifer Hulsey’s announcement and on Wednesday qualification for the State House seat for District 16, held by incumbent and candidate seeking re-election Trey Kelley.
Kelley is in his fourth term in office and previously ran in two elections unopposed.
Hulsey’s last meeting as a county commissioner was on
Tuesday, and ended her time in office that began in 2015. She had served the past two years as the board’s chair, a year as vice chair and as Public Safety Committee chair among other duties.
Whoever wins the Republican primary for the seat will ultimately have to face a Democratic challenger that joined the race late in the week as well. Lyndsay Arrendale of Euharlee qualified on March 5, and is only one of two Democrats who qualified on the ticket for 2020.
The other Democrat in the race in 2020 that’ll appear on the Polk County ballot this May and November is Tianna Smith. She’ll have to face one of four challengers during the fall election who are running in the Republican primary this season — two from Paulding County, and another two from Haralson County.
Bremen’s Robert “Bobby” Mehan and Bobby Wilson are both seeking the seats, as well as Paulding’s Jason Anavitarte and Boyd Austin.
An additional surprise is one man seeking to change positions in the county on this year’s ballot. Tony Brazier, who has served since October 2014 as the coroner and completes his first full term in office this year, is seeking to become the new Probate Court Judge.
Brazier will face competition against local attorney Bobby Brooks, who previously ran for the post against incumbent Linda Smith.
Smith plans to retire this year after nearly 30 years in the Probate Court office, eight of those as judge.
She said in a statement that she appreciated the prayers, words of encouragement and support over her two terms on the bench. See additional information in this week’s edition about her retirement.
A political newcomer is planning a run for Tax Commissioner on the 2020 ballot as well. Amanda Beck Lindsey submitted her name to seek the seat currently held by Kathy Cole.
After the qualifying period wrapped up on Friday, Cole decided not to seek a new term after just serving for the past four years. She previously ran for the post against Dorothy Wood in 2012. She plans to retire after long service within the department on December 31.
Two other races locally are contested in the 2020 primary in May. District 1 Commissioner Scotty Tillery seeking a new term in office will have to face James Vines in the Republican primary in the months to come. Also, Commissioner Chuck Thaxton seeking a new term will have a challenger in Glenn Robinson, who entered the race on March 5.
Ray “Slugger” Carter in District
3 will get to pick up his new term in office unopposed by any candidate.
A trio of school board members are also running unopposed in the race. Kristy Gober, Chris Culver and Board Chair J.P. Foster will all get to retain their seats without opposition after qualifying concluded. So will the forthcoming new coroner, Norman Smith. Smith entered the race late after Colt Chambers had intended to run for the seat, but later withdrew his name before qualifying concluded Friday due to some clerical issues.
Sheriff Johnny Moats, Magistrate Court Judge Jean Crane, District Attorney Jack Browning and Superior Court Judge Mark Murphy will all retain their seats after the 2020 election without opposition as well.
No one signed up for Surveyor on the ballot in 2020, which means that the Board of Elections office will have to re-open qualifying to determine if anyone wishes to seek the position this coming Monday through Wednesday at 12 p.m. to allow someone to enter the race.
The race is wide open for U.S. House seat to determine who will replace Representative Tom Graves when he retires at year’s end. By week’s end, 10 candidates were in the race.
GOP candidates that’ll be running in the 2020 primary include John Barge of Rome, Air Force veteran Ben Bullock, Kevin Cooke of Bremen, Dr. John Cowan of Rome, Clayton Fuller of Dalton, Marjorie Greene of a Rome address, Andy Gunther of Bremen, Bill Hembree of Dallas, and Matt Laughridge of Bartow County.
Kevin Van Ausdal of Catoosa County is the lone Democrat in that race.
This year’s Senate race for the seat held by David Perdue includes the incumbent as the lone GOP candidate, and several Democrats stepping up in the primary.
Those include former Lieutenant Governor candidate Sarah Riggs Amico, Marcketih DeJesus, James Knox, Tricia Carpenter McCracken, Jon Ossoff, Maya Dillard Smith and Teresa Pike Tomlinson.
Voters in November will get to choose who will take on a new term in the seat held by Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp. The GOP race includes herself, Doug Collins, Derrick Grayson, Annette Jackson, A. Wayne Johnson, and Kandiss Taylor.
Democrats are fielding several candidates as well. Those include Matt Lieberman, Joy Felicia Slade, Ed Tarver, Raphael Warnock, and Richard Winfield.
Additional candidates in the crowded field include Libertarian Brian Slowinski, several independents including Al Bartell, Allen Buckley, Michael Green and Valenica Stovall. Green party candidates include John “Green” Fortuin and Rod Mack.
Voters will get to head to the polls on May 19 to determine local, state and Federal primaries coming up. Early voting for the primaries begins April 27. Registration to participate in the primaries ends on April 20.