Starkville’s Ward 7 race will feature a competitive May Democratic primary after a second candidate qualified to represent the party in June’s general election.
Margaret “Ann” Moore, a 59-year-old Westside Drive resident, is challenging incumbent Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn, 64, who is seeking his third term.
Moore has worked with Mississippi Ability in Healthcare for the past 12 years and has worked in the health care industry for more than 25 years.
A first-time candidate for alderman, Moore said she is entering the race because “for the past eight years, Ward 7 has not seen much improvement” as the rest of Starkville has grown.
“This became a concern to me and so many others,” she said. “Ward 7 has received several traffic devices and very little improvement in other areas. There are several drainage issues for the residents of Northside Drive and West Main Street. These drainage issues have not been addressed.”
Vaughn was first elected as Ward 7’s alderman in 2009 when he unseated incumbent Janette Self in the Democratic primary with about 57 percent of the vote. He again beat back a challenge from Self in 2013, securing a second term with about 61 percent of the primary vote.
The winner of May 2’s Democratic Primary in Ward 7 will face Republican Roben Dawkins, 49, who works as a senior pilot at the Mississippi State University Flight Department.
The 2005 municipal election cycle was the last time a Republican ran for the Ward 7 seat. That year, Self defeated J. Emmett Smitherman by a vote margin of 311-89.
The general election is scheduled for June 6.
Deadline to qualify for municipal election races is 5 p.m. March 3.
Carver challenged by GOP, Democrat
Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver faces two election challenges for his seat.
Carver, 36, will first face an primary challenge from Republican Jason Camp.
Camp, 29, represents Ward 1 on the Starkville Planning and Zoning Commission and works at the MSU Extension Center for Government and Community Development.
The winner of the primary will then face Democrat Christine Williams in June.
Williams, 45, is working on her dissertation as a Ph.D. student and is a graduate teaching and research assistant at MSU’s Department of Political Science and Public Administration.
Both Camp and Williams are first-time candidates for the Ward 1 seat, while Carver is seeking his third term.
Carver was first elected in 2009, when he won a three-way race for Ward 1’s position with 48 percent of the vote. He ran unopposed in 2013.
Ward 1 was last won by a Democrat in 2005, when Sumner Davis also won a three-way general election.
Primary could resolve Ward 5 race
Ward 5 is guaranteed to have a new representative this year.
Outgoing incumbent Scott Maynard, a Republican, will conclude his first term in June and not seek re-election, and two Democrats have qualified to fill the position.
Ward 5’s Starkville Planning and Zoning Commissioner Patrick Miller will face former Kayla Gilmore, who owns KMG Creations Dance, Fitness and Productions.
Miller, 26, is also an employee of MSU Extension Center for Government and Community Development, while Gilmore, 33, is a former city election commissioner who vacated her position in order to run for office.
Maynard was unopposed in 2013’s election. Former Ward 5 Alderman Jeremiah Dumas was the last Democrat to win the seat. He beat GOP challenger Michael Allen in 2009’s General Election with about 60 percent of the vote.
Challenge expected in Ward 2
A repeat of 2013’s Ward 2 Democratic primary between former Alderman Sandra Sistrunk and incumbent Lisa Wynn is expected in May.
While Sistrunk, 66, qualified for the race earlier this month, Wynn has yet to file her paperwork at City Hall but pledged last year to run for re-election.
Wynn, 48, won her first term in 2013, beating Sistrunk 217-191 in a runoff election. They originally tied at 181 votes each in that year’s Democratic primary.
Sistrunk served as Ward 2’s alderman from 2009-13 after she beat Republican Rodney Lincoln with 51 percent of the general election vote.
Unchallenged races
So far, Ward 3 Alderman David Little, Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins do not face re-election challenges and are running unopposed for their seats.
Little, 50, won his first election in 2013, ousting incumbent Eric Parker with 62 percent of that year’s Republican primary. Little manages the claims office of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company.
Walker, 43, also earned his first term that year, narrowly defeating challenger John Gaskin with a 194-190 vote margin in the Democratic primary. Walker is an associate professor within the MSU Department of Landscape Architecture.
Perkins, 60, is seeking his seventh term as alderman. He was last challenged in 2013’s Democratic primary by Lerin Pruitt, the son of Maben Mayor Larry Pruitt, and won with almost 70 percent of the vote.
That primary marked only the second time the long-serving alderman has faced a challenge at the ballot. He was first elected in 1993 after he unseated a 16-year incumbent in a three-way race.
A Starkville High School graduate, Perkins holds a law degree from Mississippi College and both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from MSU. He has practiced law for more than 25 years and previously served as a staff attorney for the Mississippi House of Representatives and as a special assistant attorney general for the state.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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