Incumbents, newcomers file to seek city, county offices ahead of filing deadline

The filing deadline for partisan political offices was Friday, and Christian County is set to have a busy election season later this year.

Starting with Hopkinsville’s mayoral election, Mayor J.R. Knight has filed for reelection, and he will face current District Seven Christian County Fiscal Court Magistrate Russ Guffey and former Ward One Hopkinsville City Council Member Natasha Francis in the Republican primary. The winner of that race will face Democratic Mayoral newcomer Markeeta Oldham Wilkerson.

Then the race for Christian County Judge Executive is set to be quite simple, as Republican incumbent Jerry Gilliam is the only candidate.

Hopkinsville City Council:

Turning toward the City Council, over 20 candidates have filed to seek one of the 12 available seats. In Ward One, incumbent Vance Smith is seeking reelection, and he will face Republican Chance Andrew Tatum in the primary. The winner of that race will go against Democrat Sharon Manning.

In Ward Two, Republican Adrian Bruce is the only candidate seeking that council seat. Current Ward Two City Council Member Brandi Stallons is seeking to remain on the council, but as the representative of Ward Three. Stallons will be going against incumbent Don Marsh in the Republican Primary.

Then, Republican Terry Parker, who once represented Ward Seven on the council, is seeking the Ward Four seat and is running unopposed. In Ward Five, Democrat Carlyn Marie Hughes and Republican Anna Norris will be facing off against each other.

In Ward Six, Republican incumbent Travis Martin is seeking reelection and is unopposed. Then, in Ward Seven, Republican incumbent Clayton Sumner is also running unopposed.

In Ward Eight, Democrat and former Christian County School Board Member Tiffany Pittman will be going against Republican Stephen Crisp.

The Ward Nine race is the most crowded. Republican incumbent Brittanie Bogard is seeking reelection and will be facing former city council member Jamie Lienberger in the primary election. Then in the Democratic primary, Monike Love, Duane Shepard and Ardell Owens will be facing off.

In Ward 10, Republican incumbent Mike Velez will be facing former city council member Steve Keel. Whoever wins that race will go head-to-head with Democrat Angetlita Atkins. In Ward 11, Republican incumbent Jason Bell has filed for reelection, and he will be facing Democrat Andrea Santos-Rickard.

Lastly, in Ward 12, Republican incumbent Elizabeth Draude has filed for reelection and is unopposed.

Christian County Fiscal Court:

Turning toward the fiscal court, 15 candidates have filed to seek one of the eight available seats. In District One, Democratic incumbent Magaline Ferguson is seeking reelection and is unopposed. In District Two, Republican incumbent Josh Turner is also running unopposed.

In District Three, Republican incumbent George Barnett will face Tana Loden in the primary. The winner of that race will face Democrat Faith Watkins. In District Four, Republican incumbent J.E. Pryor is seeking reelection and is unopposed.

Then, the District Five race is a bit crowded with four newcomers facing off for the seat. Republicans Virginia Erxleben, Jonathan Zordel and Austin Crawford will go against each other in the primary election, and the winner will go on to face Democrat Jim Smith. Then, in District Six, Republican incumbent Phillip Petersen is seeking reelection and is unopposed.

In District Seven, Republicans John Heltsley and Todd Morris will face off in the primary election. Lastly, in District Eight, Republican incumbent John Bruce is seeking reelection and will be facing Lucas Stagner in the primary election.

Law Enforcement Offices:

Christian County Sheriff Tyler DeArmond is running for reelection, and he will face current Hopkinsville Police Department Deputy Chief Erik Pacheco in the Republican primary election.

In District One, Republican Mike Haddock is running for constable and is unopposed. In District Two, Democrat Patricia Ann Gresham is running for constable and is unopposed.

In the District Three constable race, Republicans Glenn Rickard and Joshua Paul Gydesen will face off in the primary election. In District Four, Republican Chris Cayce is running for constable and is unopposed.

In the District Five constable race, Republican Mark Graham is running unopposed. Fellow Republican Thomas Walker is also running unopposed in the constable race in District Six.

Then, in the District Seven constable race, Sherry Byerline and Richard Leavell III will face off in the Republican primary election. Lastly, in the Eighth District constable race, Brian Diamond and Jeff Newton are going head-to-head in the Republican Primary.

Other Races:

District Eight Representative Walker Thomas and District Nine Representative Myron Dossett are seeking reelection, and the pair are unopposed.

Christian County Clerk Melinda Humphries is seeking reelection, and she is running unopposed. Then, current Christian County Attorney Lincoln Foster is seeking reelection, and he is running unopposed.

Christian County Jailer Adam Smith is seeking reelection, and he is running unopposed. In the race for Christian County Property Valuation Administrator, Amber Ezell and Tabitha Pryor Strader will face off in the Republican primary election. Then, Bill Chaudoin Jr. is running unopposed to be the Christian County Surveyor.

Lastly, Christian County Coroner Scott Daniel is running for reelection as a Republican.