This past week saw Pensacola City Councilmen Sam Hall and John Jerralds officially declare their intent to run for reelection. Hall pre-filed for his At-Large B seat on Thursday, and Jerralds pre-filed for his District 5 seat on Friday. Hall had previously stated his intention not to seek reelection, and instead hoped to have the at-large seats eliminated altogether.
Assuming no others enter the race, Hall will face former mayoral candidate Charles Bare and Victor Cross. Jerralds is currently unopposed, as are fellow council members Maren DeWeese and P.C. Wu for their respective seats.
Also of note: Jewel Cannada-Wynn, the former city councilwoman who lost her District 6 seat to Brian Spencer last election, has dropped out of the County Commissioner District 3 race and thrown her hat into the ring for City Council District 7. (Her West Blount Street residence changed districts in the latest city redistricting.) Councilman Ronald Townsend has not yet filed for the District 7 seat, and may not run. That leaves the battle for District 3 a little less crowded, with only four Democratic candidates pre-filed to face off in the primary (Lumon May, Pat Pepper, Clinton Powell Sr., and Annie Thomas-Walker). There’s one, currently unopposed Republican candidate (Tiffany Washinton), and four candidates without party affiliation (Takia Berry, John Johnson, Hugh King Sr., and Derek Stromas) who will skip the primary and go straight to the general election.
Escambia County Commissioner Wilson Robertson is facing Republican Jesse Casey and NPA challengers Andrea Shanta Bonner and Bobby Spencer for the District 1 seat, while District 5 has a whole mess of candidates vying for the seat being vacated by Kevin White: Republicans Sam Archer, Glenn Austin, Steven Barry, Deanne Patricia Burkett, and Jim Taylor, plus NPA candidates Packy Mitchell and Dennis Wiggins.
Escambia County School Board Members Patty Hightower and Bill Slayton are currently unopposed in their reelection bids.
In state races, Clay Ford is currently the only candidate for his District 2 Florida House seat, while Democrat Gloria Ann Wiggins has met the petition requirement to run against incumbent Republican Clay Ingram.
Because of the state’s recent (and contentious) redistricting, Florida State Senate District 2 now covers the entirety of Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties and a portion of north Okaloosa County. Incumbent Senator Greg Evers is a resident of Okaloosa County, which potentially makes him vulnerable to opponents closer to the Pensacola population core, but at the moment only write-in candidate Joshua Hartigan has challenged him for the District 2 seat.
The qualifying period for candidates runs from Monday, June 4, through Friday, June 8.
2 comments
CJ Lewis says:
Jun 3, 2012
We should accomodate Hall’s request and put a Charter amendment on the November ballot to immediately eliminate both At-Large City Council district seats as intended by the Charter Review Commission back in 2009. Any Council member can save us the trouble by just making the motion on June 11th to put it on the August 14th ballot. At the time, March/April 2009, Hall strenuously objected to eliminating the at-large seats put in place to dilute the African-American vote saying that doing so would “dilute the white vote.” Hall said that [White] people would not stand for it. Massive pressure was brought to bear in public and private on the Charter Review Commission members and at their “very” last meeting on August 19, 2009 they voted to undo their earlier vote thus allowing the City Council to remain in its current bloated form with nine members, perhaps a national record for city’s with a population just under 52,000.
New girl says:
Jun 19, 2012
Actually, Maren DeWeese is not unopposed. Andy Terhaar I saw is running for District 3.