Two incumbents unseated after Tuesday runoff vote
Published 5:00 am Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Two incumbents were denied a return to office in Lawrence CountyDemocratic runoff election results Tuesday.
In complete but unofficial results, incumbent House District 91Rep. Joey Hudson and Superintendent Russell Caudill will not bereturning to office. Hudson was defeated by attorney Bob Evans andCaudill by Tony Davis, a school district employee.
Incumbents Sheriff Joel Thames, District Two Supervisor BillyJoe Boutwell, Post One Justice Court Judge Albert Turnage and PostTwo Constable Brad Davis were all reseated.
In races with no incumbent, James “Sandy” Brister won electionas the circuit clerk and Jerry Wayne Smithie was named DistrictThree supervisor.
With no Republicans and only one independent candidate seekingoffice, Tuesday’s election decided who would serve in nearly alloffices for the next four years.
The only Lawrence County race to advance beyond the runoff willbe for District Two supervisor. Voters in November will decidewhether to elect Boutwell or independent Gloria Billiot.
In Tuesday’s runoffs, Hudson led Lawrence County ballots in therace against Evans by a vote margin of 1,847 to 1,805 to representportions of Copiah, Covington, Jefferson Davis, Lawrence andSimpson counties, but fell short in districtwide polls.
Thames defeated former Monticello police officer Charles Whiteto secure his third term as sheriff in the largest margin ofvictory that featured a challenger against a sitting incumbent.
Boutwell fended off another challenge by Jay E. Maye to retainhis seat as District Two supervisor.
Turnage was also successful in his bid to return to the Post Onebench by defeating Kathleen S. Sharp.
Brad Davis earned his second term with 1,481 votes. He defeatedchallenger Royce Renfroe.
Two races featured no incumbents.
Circuit Clerk Cindy Stokes chose not to seek re-election.
Brister and Patsy Bullock earned the opportunity to face eachother after voters pared down a large field of candidates in theAug. 7 primary, but it was Brister who emerged victoriousTuesday.
Primary voters decided Aug. 7 not to return incumbent DistrictThree Supervisor Calvin Rutland. Instead, they chose a runofffeaturing challengers Smithie and John Bull and gave Smithie thevictory on Tuesday.