Four candidates have filed paperwork to run for Leflore County chancery clerk since longtime incumbent Sam Abraham announced he’d be vacating the post to campaign for county supervisor.
Those four candidates were among the 38 office seekers that will be competing for office in Leflore County this fall. The deadline for qualifying was Friday.
The field for chancery clerk filled quickly after Abraham, who had held the office since 1995 and had filed in January to run for re-election, instead pulled his paperwork and decided to run as a Republican for the District 1 supervisor’s seat being vacated by Phil Wolfe, who is retiring.
Christine Lymon, a longtime deputy chancery clerk, will face fellow Democrats Reginald Moore and Johnny Gary Jr. for the post in the party’s August primary. Former Leflore County Emergency Management Director Troy Brown Sr. is also running for the position as an independent.
As Friday’s 5 o’clock deadline passed, five Leflore County officials who won’t be facing challengers were able to breathe a sigh of relief. County Coroner Debra Sanders, Constable Steve Pernell, Prosecutor Richard Oakes, Justice Court Judge Jim Campbell and Tax Assessor Leroy Ware will all be running unopposed this fall.
About a dozen of the candidates were milling about the courthouse prior to the 5 p.m. deadline to see if any last-minute competition would emerge.
Among those filing for office in the hours before the deadline Friday was K.K. Henderson Kent, the proprietor of K.K.’s Deli in Greenwood, who is running for District 5 Supervisor against incumbent Robert Collins and former supervisor Larry “Kite” Johnson.
Former Leflore County Justice Court Judge Larry “Blue” Neal qualified for a bid to regain his former seat on the county bench for the southern district as an independent against Democratic incumbent Carlos Palmer.
Justice Court Judge James Littleton will also be facing a challenger to his seat on the court. Kelvin Pulley, an attorney practicing in Cleveland and the son of former Greenwood School Superintendent Margie Pulley and Leflore County Superintendent Cedell Pulley, qualified to run for the judgeship as an independent.
Former Greenwood Deputy Police Chief Huntley Nevels qualified Friday afternoon to challenge incumbent Constable Vonzell Self in the central district. Nevels retired from city service in 2011 after 30 years with the department.
In the District 1 supervisor race, Abraham will be campaigning against John Paul “J.P.” Walker, a Greenwood insurance broker who’s campaigning as an independent, and Republican Joe Fennell, a Minter City farmer.
The other four current members of the Leflore County Board of Supervisors will be facing at least one challenger in the general election — at least for the time being.
District 2 Supervisor Robert Moore, who will be seeking a sixth term on the board, is slated to face independent candidate Mark Head. Head, a former Leflore County sheriff’s deputy, has been indicted on federal drug trafficking charges and is currently awaiting trial.
Should Head be convicted on a felony charge — a trial is currently scheduled for April 6 — he would be disqualified from standing for public office in the state.
In District 3, three candidates will be looking to unseat incumbent Anjuan Brown. Charles McCain Jr., who unsuccessfully ran for the post in 2011, will face Brown in the Democratic primary.
Independent Troy Brown Jr., a teacher and the son of chancery clerk candidate Troy Brown Sr., and Republican Ramon J. Sanders will also be seeking the District 3 seat.
District 4 Supervisor Wayne Self will be facing a pair of challengers on election day. Eric Mitchell, the owner of Capricorn Internet Cafe in Itta Bena who unsuccessfully ran against Self in 2011, will be running as an independent, as will T.W. Cooper, the county’s retired former director of emergency management.
Circuit Clerk Elmus Stockstill, who spent much of Friday afternoon collecting qualifying forms from candidates, will also be facing opposition in his re-election bid. Mary Rice-Roberson, a former deputy circuit clerk who unsuccessfully sought the clerkship in 2011, will be running against Stockstill again this fall.
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
