Qualifying for county and state legislative offices begun

Qualifying for county and state legislative offices began this past Monday, and, as of Wednesday morning, there were no major surprises.

Qualifying for the May 21 Primaries ends Friday at noon. Primary winners advance to the General Election Nov. 5.

The Georgia General Assembly recently enacted local legislation creating staggered terms for the Baldwin County Board of Commissioners, and four of the incumbents will be seeking re-election, two for two-year terms and two for four years.

Emily Davis and Kendrick Butts of Districts 1 and 2, respectively, both Democrats, signed up and paid their fees early Monday when the weeklong qualifying period began. Both will be running for four-year terms.

County Commission candidates elected in Districts 3, 4, and 5 will serve only two-year stints, and those seats will be up for election again in 2026, eliminating the possibility that four or five new board members could be elected the same year.

Commission Chairman Johnny Westmoreland of District 5 and District 3 commissioner Sammy Hall both qualified Monday as well, while Henry Craig of District 4 announced Tuesday night he will not be seeking re-election (see related story).

Meanwhile, three political newcomers paid their qualifying fees Monday, all in the Republican Primary. Jay wright and Carol Ballew have signed up to seek the vacant District 4 seat, while Scott Little qualified that morning in District 5. 

Wright announced his intentions several weeks ago, and Little made his plans known in a profile in last week’s edition of the Bulletin. None of the three have held elected office previously.

Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee, Tax Commissioner Cathy Freeman Settle, and Clerk of Superior Court Wanda Paul all qualified for re-election Monday as Independents, while Probate Judge Todd Blackwell did so for the Non-Partisan office.

Massee is seeking his 10th term in office and has run unopposed since 2004. Settle is running for her eighth term and currently has been in that office longer than all but six other tax commissioners in Georgia.

Paul officially took office as Superior Court Clerk Jan. 1 of this year, having been appointed by retiring clerk Mich Longino. She was previously the Chief Deputy Clerk for many years before entering private business, but returned to the office in June of 2023.

Blackwell took office in 1998 and has also served as Elections Superintendent since then. That task will end after the General Election this year, as the Baldwin County commissioners approved the establishment of a Board of Elections, effective Jan. 1, 2025. The commissioners will appoint an election superintendent who cannot be an elected official to oversee that office’s operations.

Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale qualified in the Republican Primary Monday and was unopposed when the Bulletin went to press Wednesday. Barksdale, who worked as an Assistant District Attorney under both the late Fred Bright and now-Superior Court Judge Stephen Bradley, will be seeking his second term in office.

State Court Solicitor Skye Guess said Wednesday morning she planned to qualify for re-election Thursday morning. Guess was appointed to the position in 2018 by Governor Nathan Deal and won a contested race in the General Election in 2020. She will qualify as a Republican, and no one else had signed up as of Wednesday morning.

Chief Magistrate Shane M. Geeter and Coroner John P. Gonzalez both have qualified for re-election as Democrats, with no opposition thus far.

Board of Education members Shannon Hill and John Noah Jackson qualified for re-election as non-partisan candidates in Districts 2 and 4, respectively. As of Wednesday morning, no one had qualified in District 3.

In legislative races, State Senator Rick Williams as of Wednesday morning was being challenged in the Republican Primary by Leland Olinger, one of three opponents he defeated in 2022 without a Primary runoff. Olinger, who received 3.7 percent of the votes then, says on You-Tube his campaign platform is legalization of marijuana. No Democrat had qualified as of Wednesday.

In State House District 149, which was redrawn from majority White to Majority Black, Ken Vance of Milledgeville is unopposed thus far in the Republican Primary, while former State Senator and Milledgeville Mayor Floyd Griffin and Phyllis Tufts Hightower of Bibb County had qualified as Democrats as of Wednesday.

Griffin was the first Black elected to the Georgia Senate and the first Black Mayor of Milledgeville.

Vance ran in 2022 in what was then House District 133 and relatively heavy majority White. A significant portion of Jones County was taken from that district, while four heavily-minority population precincts in Bibb County were added.

“I think I’ve done a good job representing the district,” Vance said Tuesday. “I don’t have any pre-conceived opinions. I’d be honored to represent them again, and I’m going to do my best to be their representative again.”