Liberty County voters will have several contested races to decide in the upcoming general primary – including those for school board chair and county commission District 1.

Four people have qualified to run for the school board chair spot, including incumbent Verdell Jones and former schools superintendent Dr. Franklin Perry. Also running are Tim King and Kisya Burnett.

The school board chairperson race, as other school board races are, is nonpartisan.

Incumbents Natalie Hines, who represents District 4, and Donita Strickland, who represents District 6, are not running for re-election. Terry Cook and Charlene Rocker qualified to run for the District 4 seat, and Richard Hayes and Teresa Wiser are running for the District 6 seat.

Chante Baker Martin, the District 5 incumbent, is running again for her seat and does not face any opposition.

Three county commission seats are up for election, and District 2 incumbent Justin Frasier will not face opposition in either the Democrat primary or the November general election. District 1 incumbent Marion Stevens Sr. and District 3 incumbent Connie Thrift, both Democrats, are facing challengers in the primary and the winners of those races will have opposition in November.

Stevens is facing former Midway City Council member Stanley Brown and former Walthourville mayor Larry Baker in the primary, and Janelle Johns has qualified to run against Thrift. The winner of the District 1 primary will face Joseph “Michael” Cook, a Republican, in the November general election, and the winner of the District 3 primary will face Republican Greg Lachowsky in the general election.

The general and nonpartisan primaries will be held May 19.

For more, see the March 13 edition of the Courier or return to www.coastalcourier.com.