Three local races highlight general election
Voters will go to the polls Tuesday to elect a president, a vice president, a congressman, four judges and two school board trustees.
While the presidential race has been the talk of the nation, it is the three local races that have captured the attention of Attala County voters.
One of the local races in the forefront is the race for the second position in the fifth district for circuit court judge. Kosciusko native Doug Crosby will challenge Eupora native George Mitchell Jr. who was appointed to the position by Gov. Phil Bryant at the start of the year after the retirement of long-term judge Clarence Morgan III. The fifth district includes Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Grenada, Montgomery, Webster and Winston counties.
Crosby has practiced law in the district for 19 years and is the current county prosecuting attorney and youth court prosecutor. Mitchell has practiced law for 41 years, having served as a county prosecutor, assistant district attorney and an attorney for Maben, Eupora, Mathison and the Webster County School District.
Other locally contested races include a pair of positions on local school board of trustees. Ryan Lindsay will challenge long-term trustee Dr. Kenneth Quick for a spot on the Kosciusko School District Board of Trustees, while Christie Brunt Moody will challenge Michael Johnson in the second district of the Attala County School Board.
Only voters living outside Kosciusko city limits, but inside the school district will be eligible to vote for the Kosciusko School Board spot.
In statewide elections voters will help decide a new supreme court justice in the third district, while a judge on the court of appeals will be elected in the second and third district. Four new candidates are seeking the open justice position after Justice Ann Lamar choose not to seek another eight-year term. The candidates are attorney John Brady of Columbus, Circuit Judge Bobby Chamberlin of Hernando, attorney Steve Crampton of Tupelo and Circuit Judge James T. "Jim" Kitchens of Caledonia. District three of the supreme court includes 33 counties in northern Mississippi.
Attala County will have a say in two challenged spots on the Mississippi Court of Appeals. In District 3, which contains Kosciusko and most of Attala County, two candidates will challenge Jack L. Wilson of Madison who was appointed to the position by Bryant last year. Other candidates include Madison County Court Judge Ed Hannan of Canton and Ridgeland attorney Dow Yoder, who is a former assistant district attorney and former special assistant U.S. attorney.
In the second district, which contains western Attala County, Jackson attorney Latrice Westbrooks will challenge incumbent Ceola James of Warren County, a former chancery court judge. James came to the court in 2013 after winning a special election to replace Appeals Judge Leslie King after his appointment to the Supreme Court.
Long-term congressman Bennie G. Thompson will also be seeking re-election for the second congressional district of the United States House of Representatives. Thompson has served as congressman of the district, which consists of 24 mainly western Mississippi counties, since 1993. He will face Republican challenger John Bouie II of Gulfport, the Reform Party’s Johnny McLeod of Hattiesburg and independent Troy Ray of West. Bouie is the President and CEO of Diamond Capital Insurance & Financial Services and Diamond Capital International, LLC. McLeod was a former candidate for state insurance commissioner, while Ray challenged Thompson in 2014.
Full election night results will be available at starherald.net.
