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School board races highlight local elections in Liberty
School board races highlight local election

There isn’t a presidential election in 2018, but the primaries promise are a number of hotly contested races at the local, state and national levels.

Early voting for the May 22 primaries begins Monday, and in effort to help inform voters in advance of the election, the Courier recently sent each candidate a questionnaire. 

Their answers form the basis of candidate profiles, the first of which run today on page 3 — school board chairwoman Lily Baker and challenger Scott Carrier.

Profiles of candidates for the Districts 4, 5 and 6 seats, and the Long County Commission District 3 post will run Saturday. 

That’s just for starters. The Liberty County NAACP is hosting a political forum at 6 p.m. May 3 at the Liberty County Performing Arts Center in Flemington. All candidates running for local, state and federal office have been invited. 

Residents are encouraged to attend and can email questions they want asked to candidates to secretarylibertynaacp@gmail.com. 

Sponsors of the forum include the Courier, Hinesville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Liberty County Minority Chamber and Nu Rho Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. 

The national race of local interest is that for the District 1 congressional seat held by Rep. Buddy Carter, a Pooler Republican. Carter is running unopposed in the Republican primary, but two Democrats, Richmond Hill’s Lisa Ring and Brunswick’s Barbara Seidman, are running for the chance to unseat Carter in the fall.

There are a several candidates in both major political parties looking to replace Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, who is prevented by term limits from seeking reelection. 

On the Democratic side, Stacey Abrams and Stacey Evans are vying for their party’s nomination, while seven Republicans are seeking the GOP nod. 

State Sen. Ben Watson, a Savannah Republican, will be challenged in the fall by Democrat newcomer Sandra Workman. 

State Rep. Al Williams, D-Midway, is running unopposed. 

In Long County, Mike Phillips and Hermon Scott are running for the District 3 seat vacated when former commissioner Willie Frank Thomson resigned. 

In Liberty, several candidates are running for seats on the school board, including Annette Payne, Jim Johns and Karen Branson for District 4;  Chante Baker Martin and incumbent Marcus Scott IV in District 5, and Donita Strickland and incumbent Yvette Keel in District 6. 

Three incumbent county commissioners are running unopposed District 1’s Marion Stevens, District 2’s Justin Frasier and District 3’s Connie Thrift. 

All are Democrats.  

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