Jackson Mayoral Race Updates
Former DA Faye Peterson announced earlier today that she will drop out of the race to be mayor of Jackson. At the same time, she endorsed former mayor Harvey Johnson for the position.
Despite holding a county position in the past, Peterson was always considered a long shot. The main reasons she gave for dropping out of the race were concerns that it would take away from time with her children and to focus on her law practice which she said is “really taking off.”
Harper Also Out
Earlier this week another candidate dropped out of the race. Joyce Harper backed out, and endorsed Mayor Frank Melton in his re-election bid.
Horhn Lands Endorsement
Speaking of endorsements, state Sen. John Horhn received the backing of the Home Builders Association of Jackson.
So that leaves 10 candidates in the May 5 Democratic mayoral primary. One of the Republican candidates has also dropped out, so George Lambus will be the GOP nominee.
It will be interesting to see whether all four of the independents stay in the race. If so, it will be possible for the next mayor to be elected on June 2 with less than 17 percent of the vote.
John Horhn and Marshand Crisler each evidently sees the other as his chief competitor for a spot in the May 19 Democratic runoff… which is why they are taking shots at each other.
Good points Steve.
So there’s no runoff in the general election? I think there’s one or two legit candidates who are running as Independents, but there are just too many people who will check off the candidate with the D next to their name.
I’ve thought all along that Melton would make it to a runoff, against probably either Horhn, Crisler, or Harvey Johnson. For some reason, I feel like with each passing day, Melton might not make it.
No, there’s no runoff general election. If there were, that would mean that we would potentially have FOUR rounds of voting.
In some of the small towns, there are no party municipal executive committees, which are required to conduct party primaries. So it’s a one-round election in those towns, with all the candidates running in the general election (June 2).
In Jackson’s 1997 mayor’s race, several black independents qualified to run. After Harvey Johnson beat Mayor Kane Ditto in the Democratic primary, those independents dropped out.
Two of this year’s independent candidates– Charlotte Reeves and Rick Whitlow– are past Republican nominees for mayor.
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