Candidates make final push before Tuesday’s primary elections

ALBANY — Terry Sams wanted passersby to know he was not holding up signs Saturday morning in support of House District 153 incumbent Rep. Darrel Ealum and Ealum’s daughter, School Board at-large candidate Susie Ealum, simply for the money.

“This is not a job,” Sams said as he waved at motorists passing by his spot in front of the Albany Civic Center, where Albany’s four public high schools were holding graduation ceremonies. “I support Darrel and Susie Ealum. I believe in what they stand for. I’m a former Marine, too.”

A few feet away, Donnie McCrary waved just as enthusiastically as Sams, holding up a sign in support of Geraldine Hudley, the retired educator who is facing Susie Ealum in the School Board race.

“I believe Ms. Hudley is the right person for our School Board,” McCrary said. “She’s a lady of integrity and character.”

Candidates and their supporters were out in full force Saturday, trying to influence voters during the final weekend before Tuesday’s primary and nonpartisan elections. Early voting is over, and a number of Southwest Georgia races are set to be determined by Tuesday’s election outcome.

“We’re putting out signs, just ripping and running,” Dougherty County Commission District 5 incumbent Harry James said Saturday afternoon. “I feel good about our campaign, about the response we’ve gotten in the community. I’ve found during this campaign that the people I’ve talked with are attentive to what’s going on and they’re aware of what I’ve done in office.”

James is facing the person he followed in the District 5 seat, Gloria Gaines, who left office mid-term for an unsuccessful run against Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas for the board chair position.

The James-Gaines race is one of the area’s most compelling, but it’s the School Board at-large contest pitting that has drawn the most fire. Since Ealum made CRCT test scores at Radium Middle School during Hudley’s tenure as principal a central part of her campaign, the gloves have been off between the two and their supporters.

Hudley has refused to acknowledge the scores, which have been verified as accurate, saying she has no proof of their authenticity. Some in her campaign have also contend Hudley’s tenure as Radium principal was hindered by the moving of “low-performing students” to the school.

Another local race that has generated perhaps the most visible campaign paraphernalia is the coroner’s contest between incumbent Michael Fowler and challenger Donchester Johnson, Hudley’s son. Both have signs and billboards in all parts of the community.

Three candidates are seeking judgeships in both the Southwest and South Georgia judicial districts: Jimmie Brown, Kevin Kwashnak and Lewis Lamb in the former; Ryan Cleveland, Heather Hendricks Lanier and Mike Bankston in the latter. Candidates in both nonpartisan races have drawn fire, Lamb for his supposed indifference toward the family of a firefighter killed in a traffic accident and Bankston for a DUI charge dismissal that was the subject of a court hearing last week.

In neighboring metro Albany communities, it seems that tax commissioner races have generated the most interest. Incumbent Lee County Tax Commissioner Susan Smith tried to have challenger Tommy Goodwin, who works with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office’s Internet Crimes Against Children division, disqualified for financial issues related to candidate disclosure forms. Goodwin countered by contending Smith has been inattentive to all but “close friends and the higher-ups” in the county.

In Terrell County, four Democrats — Alice Countryman Carter, Christie Cooper, Darlene Paul and Mary Ellen Harnage — are engaged in a no-holds-barred battle to replace Peggy Pritchard.

The campaign rhetoric has been much nicer in the four-person Lee County Probate Judge race, with four candidates — Miles O’Quinn, Jeffery Kirt, Melanie Gahring and Gail Drake — seeking to replace long-time Judge John Wheaton, while former Lee County District 5 Commissioner Bill Williams and newcomer Lee Johnston are seeking the Redbone District seat being vacated by Greg Frich.

In Worth County, Sheriff Jeff Hobby is being challenged by Charlie Fortson in the Republican primary Tuesday. The winner of that race will take on Democrat Tracy Jones in the Nov. 8 general election. Long-time Terrell County Sheriff John Bowens is being challenged by fellow Democratic lawmen James Driver and Wallace Price for his position as the county’s top law enforcement official.

Incumbent House District 152 Rep. Ed Rynders is being challenged by Mary Egler, in her fifth campaign, for a seat that Rynders said is vital to the region and to rural Georgia.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Rynders, a 14-year Republican veteran of the House, said Saturday. “But I’m taking this seriously because the loss of seats in south Georgia (due to a population shift northward) is a growing concern to our region. Seniority is more important now than ever.”

Republican House District 151 incumbent Rep. Gerald Greene found out Thursday that his challenge of Democrat candidate James Williams’ qualification because of residency had been upheld by Administrative Law Judge Ronit Walker, leaving Greene without opposition in that race if the decision is accepted by the Georgia secretary of state. Williams’ attorney has indicated the candidate would appeal the ruling to Fulton County Superior Court.

“This was never about the candidate, about James Williams,” Greene said. “It was about state law. And, as the court ruled, James is not eligible to run in District 151 under state law.”

Polls will be open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday.