Christine Lymon easily won the race to replace her longtime boss as Leflore County chancery clerk.
Lymon, a 62-year-old Democrat, took 77 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s general election, according to unofficial returns.
She has served as a deputy clerk in the office for 28 years, the last 20 under Sam Abraham, who come January will be moving to a different county post as supervisor for District 1.
Lymon credited “Team Christine” for her resounding victory.
“They delivered. I had a good team,” she said late Tuesday night by phone.
Her challenger, Troy Brown Sr., an independent, had tried to turn the election into a referendum on Abraham, with whom Brown butted heads before being fired last year as head of the Greenwood-Leflore Emergency Management Agency. During the campaign, Brown had claimed that electing Lymon would be like getting “Sam Abraham on steroids.”
The pitch apparently flopped, however, as Brown received only 23 percent of the vote.
He declined to comment Tuesday night, saying he would respond later by email.
In other contested countywide races, all incumbents easily won their re-election bids, although at least one of the defeated challengers said he would not be deterred by his defeat.
Longtime Sheriff Ricky Banks, an independent, beat Democratic challenger Demetrice Bedell for the second straight election. Banks earned a 10th term in office by taking 62 percent of the vote. Bedell, chief of security for the Greenwood School District, got 38 percent.
“I had a lot of help, a lot of friends,” said Banks, 67.
He said his volunteers worked tirelessly on Tuesday to get people to the polls. “I just can’t thank them enough,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bedell vowed to run again in 2019 and face off against Banks if the incumbent does not retire.
“I’m very proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish,” said Bedell, 46. “I don’t hold my head low.”
Democratic Circuit Clerk Elmus Stockstill beat Mary Rice-Roberson for the second straight time. Stockstill won 60 percent of the vote to secure a second term, while Rice-Robertson, an independent, got 40 percent.
Stockstill, 41, said his victory feels great.
“It’s good that the citizens of Leflore County have shown me their support,” he said.
Stockstill, who also had the task of supervising Tuesday’s election, said his campaign received a lot of help from backers.
“We put a lot of effort into this, a lot of campaigning and a lot of canvassing,” he said.
Tax Collector Annie Conley, a Democrat, defeated Linda Whittington, who was running as an independent, 62 percent to 38 percent.
Conley could not be reached for comment this morning.
Whittington, who has been serving in the House of Representatives as a Democrat, decided to run instead for the tax collector’s position after a Republican-led redistricting put her in the same district with another incumbent Democratic lawmaker.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
