Candidates qualify for May primary election

Published 6:55 pm Tuesday, February 1, 2022

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No doubt area residents have begun to catch glimpses of political signs ahead of the May primary election across the country.
Escambia County will be looking at races for several spots in the May 24 primary. A run-off election date has been set for June 21 with the general election set for Nov. 8.
Offices (and incumbents) up for election include:
Sheriff – incumbent Heath Jackson; District Attorney – incumbent Steve Billy; Circuit Judge Place 2 – incumbent Todd Stearns; County Commission, District 1 – incumbent Steven Dickey (who was appointed to the position by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to fulfill the term left vacant by David Stokes’ retirement); County Commission, District 3 – incumbent Scottie Stewart; County Commission, District 5 – incumbent Karean Reynolds; Escambia County School Board, District 4 – incumbent Cindy Jackson; Escambia County School Board, District 6 – incumbent Sherry Digmon (appointed to the position to complete the unexpired term of the late David Nolin).
In the state-wide elections, offices of Governor, Lt. Governor, attorney general, secretary of state, Commissioner of Agriculture and Industry, Treasurer and State Auditor are up for grabs. Other state seats to be included on the ballot are all U.S. House Seats, a U.S. Senate seat; two Alabama Supreme Court seats; four Alabama Board of Education seats; all Alabama House of Representatives seats; all Alabama Senate seats and all District Attorney seats with several Circuit and District Court judicial seats.
Qualifying for all positions ended on Jan. 28.
The Escambia County Probate Office received the following declaration of candidacy forms for those running for the respective offices:
Escambia County Sheriff: Republican (incumbent) Heath Jackson and Democrat Shaun Golden;
Escambia County Commission District 1: Republican (incumbent) Steven Dickey with no opposition;
Escambia County Commission District 3: Republicans Scottie Stewart (incumbent), Billy D. Blair, and Larry W. White;
Escambia County Commission District 5: Democrat Karean L. Reynolds (incumbent), with no opposition;
Escambia County School Board District 4: Republicans Cindy Jackson (incumbent), John Brantley, and Rachel Fore Wagner;
Escambia County Board of Education District 6: Republicans Sherry Digmon (incumbent) and Michael Bowens.
In statewide races, the field of candidates in several races are large.
For the office of Alabama Govenor, Republican incumbent Kay Ivey will be seeking re-election. Others hoping to unseat Ivey are Republicans Lynda Blanchard, Lew Burdette, Stacy George, Tim James, Donald Jones, Dean Odle, Dave Thomas and Dean Young; and Democrats Christopher Countryman, Yolanda Flowers, Patricia Jamieson, Arthur Kennedy, Chad Chig Martin, Malika Sanders-Fortier and Doug Smith.
In the race for Lieutenant Governor, Republican incumbent Will Ainsworth has no opposition.
For Attorney General, Republican incumbent Steve Marshall will be running against fellow Republican Harry Still III and Democrat Wendell Major.
For Secretary of State Republicans Wes Allen, Christian Horn, Ed Packard and Jim Zeigler have qualified along with Democrat Pamela Laffitte.
For Treasurer, Republican incumbent Young Boozer is running unopposed.
In the race for Auditor, Republicans Stan Cooke, Rusty Glover and Andrew Sorrell have qualified with no Democratic qualifier shown.
For Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, Republican incumbent Rick Pate will be running unopposed.
For Public Service Commissioner Place 1, Republican incumbent Jeremy Oden will face fellow Republicans John Hammock, Stephen McLamb and Brent Woodall in the race. No Democratic candidate qualified.
For Public Service Commissioner Place 2, Republican incumbent Chris Beeker will face Republicans Robin Litaker and Robert McCollum with no Democratic opposition for the seat.