Area voters will cast their ballots for a seat in the United States Senate and House of Representatives Tuesday, while many Lowndes County voters will select from one of four candidates to fill the last year of Terry Brown’s unexpired state senate term in District 17.
Six-term incumbent Thad Cochran is the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat after surviving a run-off with challenger and state senator Chris McDaniel in June. He will look to fend off Democrat Travis Childers and Reform Party candidate Shawn O’Hara to receive the nod for a seventh term.
Alan Nunnelee and Gregg Harper, Republican incumbents for House Districts 1 and 3, are also seeking to retain their posts. All Lowndes and Clay County voters as well as a majority of Oktibbeha County voters will select between Nunnelee and Democrat challenger Ron Dickey as well as Libertarian candidate Danny Bedwell and Lajena Walley of the Reform Party. Some Oktibbeha County and all Noxubee County voters will decide whether to re-elect Harper or choose Democrat Doug Magee, Reform Party candidate Barbara Dale Washer or Independent Roger Gerrard.
Nunnelee ran unopposed in the June primary, while Harper defeated Hardy Caraway.
Cochran, Nunnelee and Harper each earn base salaries of $174,000 in their posts.
Voters in all four counties will also select Circuit and Chancery Court judges, all of which are unopposed races with the exception of one of three District 16 Circuit Court races. Incumbent Lee Coleman faces challenger Monique Montgomery in that race.
Before his death in September, Republican Terry Brown represented District 17 in the Mississippi Senate, which comprises northern, eastern and western portions of Lowndes County including a majority of Columbus. Miss. Gov. Phil Bryant set a special election after Brown’s death to fill his unexpired term, which isn’t over until the end of 2015. Four candidates will be on the ballot to fill the vacancy: Bill Canon, Bill Gavin, Bobby Patrick and Charles Younger. The race has no party affiliation, but all four candidates have Republican platforms.
Canon was Brown’s predecessor to the Senate and is a long-time Lowndes County veterinarian. Gavin recently retired as an instructor at East Mississippi Community College and currently serves as a Columbus city councilman. Patrick retired in 2011 after nearly 40 years as an insurance agent. Younger has farmed and ranched in Lowndes and Monroe counties for more than 30 years.
State senators are paid a $10,000 salary each year plus per diem expenses.
To look at sample ballots for races in Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay counties, see page 7A. Lowndes County voters with inquiries about which polling place to go to can call 329-5900. The Dispatch will report numbers from the contested judicial race as well as the special state senate race as numbers come in Tuesday. To follow those results, visit www.cdispatch.com.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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