Today is the last day to qualify for the 36th District seat in the Mississippi House of Representatives. The seat has been vacant since the Jan. 13 death of Rep. David Gibbs, D-West Point. Gibbs had held the seat for more than 20 years. He died at the age of 76 after a brief illness. The special election, called by Gov. Phil Bryant, will be held Tues., March 12.
Other counties in Gibbs’ district include Clay and Monroe.
Gibbs’ son, Karl Gibbs, was the first candidate to announce he would run for the House seat. According to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s website, the following have qualified for the special election: Gibbs, Roderick Van Daniel, Bobbie C. Davis, Jimmy Davidson, Eddie Longstreet and Jeannie Johnson.
Candidates for the special election had to file a petition with at least 50 signatures of qualified electors from the district with the State Board of Election Commissioners.
The only Lowndes County precinct in the district is located on a portion of the Lowndes County Airbase. The polling place for that precinct is the North West Lowndes Fire Department on 128 Jess Lyons Road. The other district precincts are located in portions of Clay and Monroe counties.
While qualifying for the special election will end today at 5 p.m., Columbus residents wishing to run in the 2013 Municipal Election have until March 8 at 5 p.m.
Maurice Webber has submitted his letter of intent to run for Ward 4 Councilman. Webber will be facing Marty Turner and long-time incumbent Fred Stewart.
Former Columbus Municipal School District employee Kenneth McFarland has qualified to run against incumbent Kabir Karriem in Ward 5 and Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau board member Whirllie Byrd will challenge Bill Gavin in the race in Ward 6. Both are running as Republicans.
Mayor Robert Smith, Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor and Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box remain unopposed as of today.
The primary election will be held May 7. A run-off, if necessary, will held May 21. The general election is June 14, with the winners sworn into office on July 1.
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.