As qualifying week continues, candidates become official contenders for both state and local positions up for election this year.
Athens-Clarke County District 1 Commissioner Patrick Davenport announced his re-election campaign on Monday and qualified as of Tuesday. Clarke County School District teacher Audrey Hughes also qualified for the District 1 seat on Tuesday.
District 3 has a new contender, business owner Tiffany Taylor. Former county commissioner Jared Bailey will also be on the ballot for his former district, District 5, as well as Chief Operating Officer for the CCSD, Dexter Fisher.
For the local Board of Education, artist Heidi Hensley is running for District 1. For District 9, Elder Johnson IV and Piedmont College professor Mark Evans are running for the seat vacated by Tawana Maddox. Psychologist and President of the BOE, LaKeisha Gantt, is running for District 7.
Community activist Mokah Jasmine Johnson will probably be up against Republican State Rep. Houston Gaines in District 120. Previously, the two went head- to-head over the District 117 seat, but those boundaries have changed since the redistricting process, bringing in more of right-leaning Jackson county to that new district.
More candidates were added late yesterday for the U.S. Rep. position representing District 10, including former State Rep. Vernon Jones. Other Republican candidates include Mitchell Swan of Good Hope and David Curry of Monticello, with one Democrat -- a pastor, Phyllis Hatcher -- in the running.
