Three supervisors’ seats contested in primary election

Published 9:45 am Monday, August 3, 2015

PRIMARY ELECTIONS: Campaign signs line Halls Ferry Road. There are 22 polling locations in Warren County that will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

PRIMARY ELECTIONS: Campaign signs line Halls Ferry Road. There are 22 polling locations in Warren County that will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Residents will go to the polls Tuesday to cast votes in either the Republican or Democratic primaries. The two-party system in Mississippi requires voters to ask for a Republican or Democratic ballot.

Three candidates vie for the Warren County Board of Supervisors District 1 seat. John Arnold seeks re-election against fellow Republicans Steven Houston and Johnny Beauchamp.

Arnold is a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker and has owned and operated a business for over 20 years.

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He seeks to continue his work on the Warren County Board of Supervisors and touts the board’s ability to hold tax increases to less than $1 million overall as a major accomplishment during his first term. He said the board is again looking at no increase in taxes.

Steven Houston retired from the U.S. Air Force after 22 years and is also a real estate agent, and another, Johnny Beauchamp, is a landscape business owner and a former Warren County sheriff’s deputy.

Houston and Beauchamp both feel that the residents of District 1 need a full-time supervisor. They feel the residents don’t always receive the attention they deserve.

The winner will go on to face two independents, Ed Herring and Ed Gibson in the General Election Nov. 4.

District 3 supervisor Charles Selmon faces opposition from James E. Stirgus Jr. in the Democratic primary.

Selmon is seeking his fifth term on the board and feels the county needs to do whatever it can to help the city build a sports complex.

The winner will go on to face Independent Eros Smith in November.

With the early announcement by Warren County’s longest serving county board member that he would not file for a seventh term in District 4, Bill Lauderdale cleared the way for a crowded race.

Lauderdale, 67, said he wouldn’t run and that announcing against another run early in the qualifying period was in the best interest of his district.

“I wanted to give some time for someone out there that, hopefully, is good and qualified,” he said. “And conservative, hopefully.”

Three Republicans, Marty Crevitt, John Carlisle and Wayne Muirhead along with two Democrats, Casey Fisher and Gary Cooper filed for District 4 supervisor.

District 5 Supervisor Richard George is an Independent and faces Republican opponent Joe Wooley in November.

District 2 Supervisor William Banks is unopposed on the Democratic ticket and faces no opposition in November.

Besides four of five seats on the Warren County Board of Supervisors, races for circuit clerk and tax assessor on this year’s election ballot are contested.

Circuit Clerk Jan Hyland Daigre is the Republican nominee. The former school board member won the seat in a special election runoff Nov. 23 and finished second for the job in 2011 as an independent.

Daigre’s runoff opponent three months ago, former interim clerk Greg Peltz, filed to run for the position again, as a Democrat.

In November, Sheriff Martin Pace faces former deputy and Democratic candidate Lionel P. Johnson Sr. and Republican candidate Leon Kennedy, 29, a patrolman with the Vicksburg Police Department.

Tax Assessor Angela Brown will pick up an opponent from either former co-worker Ben Luckett or local real estate appraiser Brian Breithaupt. “I’ve been an appraiser for 22 years, and I feel there’s a need for change,” Breithaupt said.

Bill Marcy faces incumbent Briggs Hopson III in the District 23 Senate race.

There are 22 precincts in Warren County. To find a local polling place, the secretary of state’s website makes it easy to find where to go. Not only does it give the location of the polling place, it also gives directions, the contact information of the circuit clerk and a sample ballot. Just enter a home address at http://www.sos.ms.gov/pollingplace

Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.