Candidates preparing for primary election
By TONY FYFFE
BSN Editor
Democratic candidates were few and far between in Lawrence, Johnson and Martin counties as the deadline to file for county offices neared Tuesday.
The filing deadline was Tuesday at 4 p.m., which was past The Big Sandy News’ press time. The BSN will publish a complete and final candidate list in its Feb. 2 issue.
A total of 107 candidates had filed in Lawrence, Johnson and Martin counties as of early Tuesday. Only five of those candidates are Democrats, meaning all but a handful of countywide races in the three counties will be decided in the Republican primary election.
In heavily Democratic Floyd County, where the election is usually decided in the primary, 11 of the 38 candidates who had filed for office by early Tuesday are Republicans, an unusually high number that will result in a general-election campaign for some of the Democratic primary winners.
Following is the preliminary list of candidates who had filed by early Tuesday. All candidates are Republicans unless otherwise noted.
Lawrence County
• Sheriff: Chuck Jackson (incumbent)
• County Judge-Executive: Republicans Phillip L. Carter (incumbent) and D. Heath Preston; and Democrat William Spradlin.
• Jailer: Roger Lee Jordan (incumbent).
• County Clerk: Chris Jobe (incumbent).
• PVA: Chris Rose (incumbent).
• County Attorney: Brad Derifield and Johnny W. Osborne.
• County Surveyor: J. Michael Shapaka (incumbent) and Cliff West.
• Coroner: Wesley Heston (incumbent) and Will Skaggs.
• Magistrate, District 1: Republican Michael (Mouse) Halcomb (incumbent) and Democrat Terry Webb.
• Magistrate, District 2: John Scaggs (incumbent) and Lee Peters.
• Magistrate, District 3: David Pinson (incumbent), Earl Boggs Jr. and Willis Michael Chafins.
• Magistrate, District 4: Rick Blackburn (incumbent).
• Constable, District 1: Charles May and Eugene Workman.
• Constable, District 2: William “Sonny” Mynhier (incumbent), Marcus Bowen and Sam Muncy.
• Constable, District 3: Jeff McCarty.
• Constable, District 4: James “Woody” Thomas.
Johnson County
• County Judge-Executive: incumbent Mark McKenzie and Lyndon Butcher.
• Commissioner, District 1: Zach Branham, Jessica “Blevins” Click, Calvin Music, C. David “Davey” Williams and Vessie Lee Workman, Chadwick “Chad” Penix, Thomas N. “Ol Buddy” Rice, William “Bill” Scurlock, Mike Haney and Herbert E. Joe Castle
• Commissioner, District 2: incumbent Mike “Mikey” Jarrell, Dustin Music, Darwin Baldwin, Jamie L. Castle, Cecil Butcher and Nancy McKenzie Cantrell.
• Commissioner, District 3: incumbent Tim “Barber Tim” Salyer, Bryan S. Childers, Mike Vanhoose and R. Becky Grace Clay.
• County Clerk: incumbent Sallee Conley Holbrook.
• County Attorney: incumbent Michael S. Endicott and Brandon May.
• Sheriff: incumbent Doug Saylor, Scott Hazlette, Clyde “Clydie” Woods and William D. “Bill” Witten.
• Jailer: incumbent Steve Rose and Dwayne D. Price.
• Coroner: incumbent J.R. Frisby.
• PVA: incumbent Michael “Dip” Stafford and James David Castle.
• Surveyor: incumbent Clarence Scarberry.
• Constable, District 1: incumbent James “Red Eye” Castle, Tim J. Branham and Parnell R. Barnett.
• Constable, District 2: Republicans Bob “Karate Bob” Hyden and Ronnie Butcher; and Democrat Bruce Ritz (incumbent).
• Constable, District 3: Republicans Billy Dean Howard, and John Mike Stapleton and Garry Ratliff; and Democrat Jimmy Castle.
Martin County
• County Judge-Executive: Colby Kirk and Eric Jude.
• Sheriff: John Herman Kirk (incumbent), Walter Jackson and Gregory Spears.
• County Attorney: Melissa Fannin Phelps (incumbent).
• Coroner: Chris Todd (incumbent) and Zack Callaham.
• PVA: Bobby Hale (incumbent).
• Jailer: Republicans Buddy Stacy, Paul McCoy, Joshua Hunt and William Preece; and Democrat Jason Jude.
• Magistrate, District 1: Jarrod Goforth (incumbent) and Cody Slone.
• Magistrate, District 2: Kermit Howell, Albert Butcher, Rex Endicott and Dustin Dials.
• Magistrate, District 3: Tracy Spence.
• Magistrate, District 4: Junior Hunt (incumbent), Gary Cox, Virgil Jude and Billy Meade.
• Magistrate, District 5: Mark Blackburn (incumbent) and Ronald Workman.
• Constable, District 1: Bobby Maynard and Homer Mills.
• Constable, District 3: Alex Fannin.
• Constable, District 4: James Bradford Preece.
• Constable, District 5: Melvin Bowen, Zachary Spears and Christopher Lang.
Floyd County
• County Judge-Executive: Willie Crase Jr. (Democrat).
• County Attorney: incumbent Keith Bartley (Democrat).
• County Clerk: incumbent Chris Waugh (Democrat).
• Sheriff: Democrats John P. Hunt (incumbent) and Nathan Lafferty; and Republicans Randy Woods and John Hunt.
• Jailer: Democrats Stuart “Bear” Halbert (incumbent) and Steve Little; and Republican Zachary D. McCoy.
• PVA: David A. Layne II (Democrat).
• Coroner: Democrat Greg Nelson (incumbent).
• District 1 Magistrate: Democrat Mark D. Crider (incumbent); and Republicans John T. Holland and Clark Bradford.
• District 2 Magistrate: Democrats George Ousley (incumbent) and Bob Johnson.
• District 3 Magistrate: Democrats Mike Tackett (incumbent), Paul Little and Wesley Little.
• District 4: Democrat Ronnie Akers (incumbent) and William Lee Slone; and Republicans Ivan McKinney, William Hohenecker and Josh Murphy.
• District 1 Constable: Republicans Gary Wolfe and Johnny S. Johnson.
• District 2 Constable: Democrats James Hoover and Gary Nelson; and Republican Christopher Shepherd.
• District 3 Constable: Democrats Ernie Ray Moore, Ronald Wright, Harold G. Hall, Chase Shepherd and William Russell “Boochie” Hall.
• District 4 Constable: Democrats Alfred “Junebug” Newsom and Steve Hall; and Independent Eddie Case.