Here are the qualifying candidates in upcoming Augusta-area elections

It’s a major political year with voters heading to the polls multiple times over the next few months. While the headliner is the presidential election, there are also several local and state races voters will want to keep their eye on.

The presidential preference primary will be Tuesday while May 21 will serve as election day for general primaries and nonpartisan elections.

Last week was the qualifying period for several Augusta-area offices up for election. Below is the complete list of candidates who qualified in Richmond and Columbia counties for everything from sheriffs and judges to city/county commissioners.

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Richmond County Elections

Augusta Commission, District 1: Incumbent Jordan Johnson will defend his seat against real-estate agent from former Augusta commissioner Matt Aitken; doctoral student and independent contractor Kenny Osorio; civic advocate Kevin de l'Aigle; and event planner Jo'Rae Jenkins, in her fourth run for local political office.

Augusta Commissioner, District 3: Incumbent Catherine Smith McKnight will defend her seat against Augusta University associate professor Joidaz Ganes, and Richmond County Housing Authority Commissioner Carol Jones Yancy.

Augusta Commission, District 5: Incumbent Bobby Williams will be running against Cisco Network Operations manager Don "DC" Clark.

Augusta Commission, District 7 will go either to physician Dr. Marshall Bedder, an associate professor and director of the Addiction Medicine Fellowship program at Wellstar MCG Augusta; or office management and administrative services veteran Tina Slendak. Term limits prohibit Augusta Commissioner Sean Frantom from running for re-election.

Augusta Commission, District 9: Incumbent Francine Scott will defend her seat from former Augusta Commissioner Marion Williams, a four-term former commissioner who placed third in the 2022 election for Augusta's mayor.

Richmond County Sheriff: Three Democrats – incumbent Richard Roundtree, Richmond County Marshal's Office Sgt. Eugene "Gino Rock" Brantley and former chief deputy marshal Bo Johnson – will compete against an independent candidate, Richard Dixon, who has spent the past 20 years working at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center.

Judge of Superior Court for the Augusta Judicial Circuit: Competing are Chief Judge of the Richmond County Juvenile Court Willie Saunders, attorney Matt Matson and attorney Charles H. S. Lyons III. This seat is being left empty by Daniel J. Craig, who plans to retire by the end of the year.

Unopposed candidates who qualified for office include State Court Judges Kellie Kenner McIntyre and Robert "Bo" Hunter; Richmond County Marshal Ramone Lamkin; Probate Court Judge Stacy Johnson; Clerk of Court Hattie Holmes Sullivan; Tax Commissioner T. Chris Johnson; Coroner Mark Bowen; Civil and Magistrate Presiding Judge Le'Joi N. Williamson; and Solicitor General Omeeka Loggins.

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Columbia County Elections

Georgia House District 125 runoff: The district includes western Columbia County. The battle is for attorney Barry Fleming's former legislative seat, after he resigned to accept an appointment to a superior court judgeship. The two Republicans running for the seat are former Columbia County Commissioner Gary Richardson, who runs a chain of area car washes, and C.J. Pearson, 22, a Grovetown resident perhaps best known for drawing national attention as a middle-schooler for his online videos with a conservative slant.

Because the presidential preference primary and the runoff election fall on the same day, March 12, voters eligible to participate in both elections will have to either cast their ballots on separate voting machines or submit two absentee ballots. "We realize this may be confusing, but this is what law requires," the Columbia County Board of Elections said on its website.

All Columbia County voters can vote in the preference primary. District 125 voters can cast ballots only in 15 of the county's 46 polling places. The eligible District 125 polling places are listed below:

10, Kiokee Baptist Church, 2520 Ray Owens Rd., Appling16, Woodlawn Baptist Church, 4943 Columbia Rd., Grovetown20, Harlem Branch Library, 145 N Louisville St., Harlem22, Harlem Senior Center, 381 West Church St. Harlem24, Second Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, 842 Appling Harlem Rd., Harlem25, The Former Euchee Creek Library, 5907 Euchee Creek Dr., Grovetown30, Grovetown Liberty Park, 1040 Newmantown Rd., Grovetown31, Grovetown United Methodist Church, 206 E. Robinson Ave., Grovetown32, Greater Augusta Apostolic Church, 4406 Wrightsboro Rd., Grovetown33, Grovetown Public Safety Department. Station 2, 5555 Harlem Grovetown Rd., Grovetown34, Grovetown Branch Library, 105 Old Wrightsboro Rd., Grovetown40, Eubank Blanchard Community Center, 6808 Cobbham Rd., Appling62, Parkway Baptist Church, 2543 William Few Pkwy., Evans68, Parkway Elementary School, 2660 William Few Pkwy., Evans75, Belair Baptist Church, 599 South Old Belair Rd., Grovetown

Georgia House District 131: The district straddles the Richmond-Columbia county line. Five candidates, all Republican, are battling for the former seat of nurse practitioner Jodi Lott, who announced in July 2023 that she was term-limiting herself despite rising to a senior leadership role among House members. The candidates are Paul Abbott, executive director of transportation for the Richmond County School System; hospital cybersecurity analyst David Byrne, Benjamin Cairns, a political science professor at Georgia Military College; commercial general contractor Rob Clifton; and tobacconist Russell Wilder.

Columbia County Coroner:Terry Norman, a longtime officer with the Richmond County Marshal's Office, is running as a Republican against Democratic challenger Helen Bratton, who has owned and operated a bereavement consultancy. Tommy King, formerly of the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, has served as interim coroner since August 2023, after longtime incumbent Vernon Collins announced his retirement.

Columbia County Board of Commissioners, District 2: Risk management consultant Trey Allen is running for the same seat he held for 12 years before stepping down in 2020, replaced by Don Skinner. Challenger Mark Petersen ran for the same seat in 2020 and finished fourth in a field of four.

Columbia County Board of Commissioners, District 3: Richardson's seat vacancy clears the way for two Republicans, insurance agent Michael Carraway and senior-care home head chef Rickey Merideth Sr.

Columbia County Board of Education, District 4: Incumbent Lee Ann Meyer, a bed-and-breakfast owner in Harlem, has held the post since winning the 2016 election. Her challenger is former Army linguist Katie Allen, who has been an outspoken critic of selected reading material in Columbia County school libraries.

Grovetown City Council: Former councilwoman Ceretta Smith and Jacqueline Rivera-Player, a tax preparer for the Grovetown office of H&R Block, are vying for the seat vacated by Deborah Fisher, who resigned to mount an unsuccessful run for mayor of Grovetown in November 2023. She and Smith, also a mayoral candidate, lost to incumbent Gary Jones.

Unopposed candidates who qualified for office include Probate Court Judge Alice Wheatley Padgett; Sheriff Clay Whittle; Tax Commissioner Wayne Bridges; Board of Education Chairman David Dekle; and Philip Kent Jr., who's the sole candidate in the District 1 school board race to fill the seat of departing incumbent David Alalof.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Richmond, Columbia counties end candidate qualifying for new elections