District Attorney Forrest Allgood said his 26-year tenure as lead prosecutor for Lowndes, Clay, Noxubee and Oktibbeha counties filled him with purpose and passion.
The 61-year-old was defeated in Tuesday’s election by Democratic challenger Scott Colom, a 32-year-old Columbus attorney.
Colom garnered 20,724 votes. Allgood received 17,685.
Allgood will leave office in December, after the final circuit court term of 2015 ends. He says he rarely saw the job as work.
“I can honestly say that there are very few days where I got up and went to work,” he told The Dispatch on Wednesday.
Allgood does not plan to go idly into retirement. He said he will find an outlet to pour his time and energy into. Whether that is private practice or another line of work, he is unsure.
Colom will begin his tenure as the chief prosecutor of the 16th District in January. He told The Dispatch he began looking at who might join his staff this week. Colom said he has not spoken with any of the current assistant district attorneys and does not know if they will want to work with him.
“I want people who agree with my positions and want to work with me,” he said.
Colom said he and Allgood have yet to speak about the office.
“I wanted to give him a couple of days to process what happened,” Colom said. “At some point, I’m confident we can get together and talk about a smooth transition.”
Allgood told The Dispatch he will do his best to finish what cases he can and make the transition simple.
Colom, who ran on a platform of sending more non-violent offenders into diversionary programs and saving heavy prosecution for violent crime, said establishing his alternative programs will be an early focus of his tenure.
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