Runoff eliminates candidates
Published 8:19 pm Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The ballot for the November general election has been set — unofficially — and it means that Pearl River County will have a new sheriff and at least four new members of the Board of Supervisors
The results at this point are unofficial because the numbers so far do not include the affidavit and absentee ballots, which still have to be counted.
Two coroner candidates battled it out for the Republican slot in November, with Derek Turnage apparently narrowly defeating Lisa Roche Sanders. Turnage received 4,516 votes to Sanders’ 4,321 votes.
Turnage said that if the affidavit and absentee ballots come back in his favor he looks forward to the general election in November.
“The race was clean and I appreciate it,” Turnage said.
In the Sheriff’s race two candidates battled it out for a spot on the ballot in November in both the Democratic and Republican parties. In the Democratic runoff, former Sheriff Dan C. McNeill, with 880 votes, defeated his former chief deputy Rodney Spears, who had 655 votes.
Republican Sheriff’s candidates Picayune Police Chief Jim Luke and local entrepreneur David Allison made it to Tuesday’s runoff and Allison continues on to the next round. Allison received 5,029 votes to Luke’s 4,224 votes.
Luke was unavailable for comment Wednesday morning, but Allison said he was pleased with the outcome.
“I think the Lord answered our prayers,” Allison said.
He would like to thank all of his campaigners for their hard work.
Several county supervisor’s districts had runoff elections to determine the candidate that would proceed to the next political round. Districts II and IV had runoff candidates in both parties, while Districts V and III had only Republican runoff candidates.
For District II, in the Republican party were Charles Culpepper and Daryl Smith. Culpepper received 1,194 votes to Smith’s 1,038 votes. On the Democratic side, Kevin Odom and Josey Tynes battled it out. Tynes received 175 votes to Odom’s 64 votes.
In District IV were Woopie Kellar and Huey H. Smith on the Democratic ticket and Patrick Lee and incumbent Bobby Thigpen on the Republican ticket. Huey Smith received 168 votes to Kellar’s 131 votes and Lee received 1,064 votes to Thigpen’s 755 votes.
District III had incumbent Larry Davis facing off against Hudson Holliday on the Republican ticket. Holliday received 1,220 votes to Davis’ 808 votes.
In District V incumbent Bettye Stockstill faced Sandy Kane Smith. Sandy Smith received 1,333 votes to Stockstill’s 876 votes. Stockstill said Wednesday morning that she had a good two years serving as District V supervisor and she hopes that all of the projects the current board started on will be completed in the coming years.
In the District 1 supervisor’s race, Democratic incumbent Anthony Hales will face Republican challenger Vernon Culpepper.
Also on the run off ballot were Todd Brand and Mike Sumrall running for state auditor under the Democratic party. Sumrall received 956 votes and Brand received 521 votes, reflecting the state-wide results in that race.