As Friday’s candidate filing deadline for Greenwood municipal elections nears, a former mayor said she’s still weighing her options.
“I have not made a decision,” Sheriel Perkins said Wednesday.
Perkins, a Democrat, defeated Harry Smith in a special election in 2006 to become the city’s first female mayor and its first African-American mayor.
She ran for a full term in 2009 but lost to Carolyn McAdams, who defeated her again in 2013. Perkins sued to have the 2013 results overturned but was unsuccessful.
The deadline for filing is 5 p.m. Friday.
McAdams, an independent, has filed to seek a third term.
Three Democrats — Jelani Barr, Kenderick Cox and Tavarris Cross — have also filed.
The party primary will be held May 2. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff will be held May 16.
On Tuesday, community activist Shun Pearson announced he was running as an independent for mayor in the June 6 general election.
Pearson, 43, is in-school detention counselor at Amanda Elzy High School. He is also the founder of Mississippi Delta Cease Fire, a gun-violence awareness group.
“I’ve been working for years,” he said. “I wanted to be used by my city, doing what I do to help out. I’ve been helping in the schools for years. I’ve been in the Recreation Department for years. Nobody takes notice.”
Pearson said he is frustrated with city leaders’ lack of action in response to problems.
“They don’t have a plan to approach the ills that we have with crime, with getting our schools back,” he said. “I’m going to raise up my hand and say, ‘We’re out here working, and nobody is embracing us. Nobody’s trying to bring the next group along.’ It’s like they are going to be left hanging.”
Pearson has already released a plan covering such issues as improving public lighting, attracting new industries to the city and dealing with homelessness and poverty.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
An earlier version of this story included an incorrect title for Shun Pearson.
