Published Friday, June 27, 2008

No challengers qualify for nonpartisan seats

By Brenda Pedraza-Vidamour

The Times-Herald

No challengers qualified this week for Coweta's nonpartisan seats, which means the incumbents have secured re-election to their seats in November.

The incumbents on the local school board seats who are unopposed in the November general election include Sue Brown, Frank Farmer and Winston Dowdell.

The other incumbents are for local and state Superior Court judgeships. They are State Court Judge John Herbert Cranford, Probate Court Judge Mary T. Cranford and Chief Magistrate Jim Stripling. The Superior Court judges in the Coweta Judicial Circuit are Quillian Baldwin, Dennis Blackmon, Allen Keeble, Jack Kirby, William F. Lee and John Simpson.

While candidates for these posts will be voted back into their seats in November, the next election date in Coweta is the General Primary on July 15. In Coweta, the locally contested races are in the Republican General Primary. They include the District 4 seat on the Coweta County Board of Commission, the Solicitor General seat and the coroner post.

GOP candidates Rodney Brooks and Gary DeGeorge are seeking election to the District 4 county commission seat, currently held by Leigh Schlumper, who is not seeking re-election.

Robert Stokely, the incumbent, and Randy Coggin are vying for the solicitor's position.

Mike Hutson and Ray Yeager Jr. are seeking the coroner post, currently held by Wimp Pierce, who is retiring.

While these three local races have no Democratic opposition and will be decided on in the July primary, the other partisan races that will have opposition in November include (I = Incumbent, R = Republican, D = Democrat):

U.S. Representative, 3rd Congressional District: (I) Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Grantville; Stephen A. Camp, D-Newnan.

Georgia Senator, District 28: (I) Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg; Betty Aaron, D-Palmetto.

Georgia Representative, District 71: (I) Billy Horne, R-Sharpsburg; Jason G. Smith, D-Newnan.

Coweta Commissioner, District 1: (I) Paul Poole, R; Bill Wood, D.

Coweta Commissioner, District 5: Rob Brass, R; Alphonso Smith, D. The District 5 seat is currently held by Tim Higgins, who is not seeking re-election.