As of 3 p.m. today, three of four incumbents on the Fayette County School Board and the Fayette County Board of Commissioners have qualified to run for re-election.
The three have no challengers, and Lee Wright has yet to qualify for his post 4 seat on the board of education. Current BoE post 5 representative Bob Todd has qualified, as have incumbent county commissioners Jack Smith (post 4) and Eric Maxwell (post 5).
Todd, Smith and Maxwell each qualified as Republicans. The Fayette County Democratic Party has yet to sign up any candidates for the local races, though some people are considering running for the school board seats and perhaps one of the commission seats.
The qualifying period ends at noon Friday. The primary election is slated for July 20 and the general election is Nov. 2.
Candidates for the board of education posts are required to live in the district in which they are running for office. Candidates for the county commission posts may reside anywhere in the county because both are at-large positions.
The board of education and county commission seats are voted on at-large, meaning that every resident in the county may vote in each race, regardless of the district the voter resides in.
In regional races involving Fayette County, local legislators Rep. Matt Ramsey (R), Sen. Ronnie Chance (R), Rep. Virgil Fludd (D), Rep. John Yates (R), Rep. Darryl Jordan (D) and Sen. Valencia Seay (D) have all qualified for re-election.
A Fayetteville Democrat, Rose Carroll, has qualified to run against Yates, but that matchup will occur after the summer primary.
Seay is facing a challenge from Clayton County’s notorious former sheriff Victor Hill, who lost his re-election bid after just one term in office. Also in that race is Fayetteville Democrat Travis Spruill.
Jordan is also facing a challenger in the general election, Republican James Brown of Riverdale.
Rep. Roberta Abdul-Salaam is, as of this writing, the only regional officeholder in the legislature who has yet to qualify for re-election.
