Candidates begin to register

By Greg Bird
birdman@tmcvoice.com

One week in to the 2018 election season only a handful of candidates have officially declared their intentions to seek political office in McCreary County.

Registration at County Clerk Eric Haynes’ office has been slow to begin, but potential candidates still have more than two months to officially throw their hats in to the ring.

Bill Hale Jr. (R) has declared his intention to run for the Magistrate District 1 seat, currently held by Leroy “O.L” Perry. Roger Phillips (R) is seeking re-election to Magistrate District 2 position. Lonnie Creekmore (R) has filed for the Magistrate District 4 position, currently held by Duston Baird, who has not filed as of press time.

David Price (D) filed Wednesday to run for Magistrate in District 3, which is currently held by Republican Jason Mann.

Two contenders for County Attorney have emerged with Conley Chaney and Austin Price filing for the position. Chaney, serving his first term as County Attorney, was elected as a Democrat, but has switched party affiliation to Republican for the current race. Price a former County Attorney, who ran for re-election as a Democrat in 2014, has also switched to Republican. Chaney defeated Price by 23 votes in the 2014 Primary Election.

Freddie Clark (R), current District 2 Constable has entered the Sheriff’s race, filing to be the Republican nominee for the position in the Primary. (Sheriff Randy Waters has already filed as a Democrat for re-election.)

Jailer Jessie Hatfield (R) is the lone candidate in the Jailer race currently.

Coroner Tim Corder (R) has filed for re-election, but will be challenged by Teddy Coffey (R), who previously served in that post as well as Magistrate.

Two individuals, Kenny Kidd (R) and Thomas Corder (R) are seeking the nomination for the District 3 Constable post, currently held by Donald Daugherty.

Circuit Court Judge Dan Ballou has also filed for the non-partisan seat on the Kentucky Supreme Court 3rd Division.

As of Wednesday morning only 17 candidates have filed to appear on the May 22 Primary Election. More than 17 local offices will be up for grabs in the election.

Registration for the Primary will continue through January 30. The final day to change party affiliation is December 31.