Candidate qualifying kicks off Monday in seven upcoming south Richmond County elections, while a few names have already surfaced.
Time will tell who runs for the District 4 seat on the Nov. 4 special election ballot. The Augusta Commission post is coming open due to the July 17 resignation of Alvin Mason for health reasons.
The commission district is home to about 25,000 people and spans areas north and east of Fort Gordon with Augusta and Hephzibah addresses.
Qualifying for the District 4 post is being held from 9 a.m. Monday through noon Wednesday at the Richmond County Board of Elections office, 535 Telfair St., Suite 500. Candidates must be a registered voter at least 21 years old, a resident of the district for a year and a Georgia resident for two years. The fee is $360.
At least three likely contenders have emerged:
- Interim and currently incumbent Commissioner Tanya Barnhill-Turnley. The commission elected consultant Barnhill-Turnley, Mason’s longtime campaign manager, as interim commissioner at his recommendation.
- William Harris, a veteran and retired educator who has repeatedly won the Republican nomination for state House District 126. Harris filed a declaration of intent to seek campaign contributions in the commission election on July 23.
- Lonnie Wimberly, an Army retiree and president of the Richmond County Neighborhood Association Alliance. He’d likely have to resign his position as District 9 appointee on the city Charter Review Committee.
A similarly brief qualifying period awaits candidates for three commission seats in Hephzibah. The municipality of about 3,800 is 14 miles south of downtown Augusta.
The fee is $35 and qualifying takes place from 8:30 a.m. Monday through 4 p.m. Wednesday at Hephzibah City Hall, 2530 Hwy. 88.
The seats coming open are districts 1, 2 and 3. The city commission elects one of its five members as chairman each year. Current representatives reelected to the three posts in 2021 include:
- Robert Buchwitz in District 2. The businessman serves as the commission’s current chairman.
- Jody Bolineau, superintendent of Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics, currently represents District 1.
- Lewis V. McFalls, first elected to Hephzibah Commission District 1 in 2021.
In Blythe, population 863, the positions of mayor and two city council seats are coming open.
Incumbent Mayor Tom Cobb retired from the Army and served as Blythe mayor from 2000-2010 and briefly in 2018 and was returned to the seat in a 2023 special election.
Anna Reeves, who moved to Blythe in 1997, announced her run for mayor months ago. Reeves, a trustee for the Augusta-Richmond County Public Library System, ran for city council in 2023.
Two of four at-large city council seats are coming open in Blythe, about 20 miles southwest of downtown Augusta. According to Blythe’s website the council posts are are those held by:
- Phillip Lee Stewart, a mechanic and former Blythe mayor who was elected to council in a March 2024 special election
- Rebecca Bartlett Newsome, a cosmetologist and former candidate elected to council in a March 2023 special election.
The fee is $144 to run for mayor and $54 to run for council. Qualifying will take place from 8:30 a.m. Monday through 4 p.m. Friday at Blythe City Hall, 294 Church St.
Municipal elections are taking place all over the state this November and qualifying is this week as well for two council posts in Grovetown and Harlem and Harlem mayor in Columbia County.
Statewide, all voters will returns to the polls Nov. 4 to decide contests for Public Service Commission representing districts 2 and 3.
