7 incumbents will return to office

PANAMA CITY — A slate of incumbent local candidates will serve another term after nobody filed to run against them as qualifying for the upcoming primaries and general election ended on Friday.

But a slew of local residents have qualified to run in the upcoming elections for state and federal offices.

Running unopposed in the local ones were: incumbent Bay County commissioners George Gainer and Guy Tunnell, Bay County judges Timothy Campbell and Joe Grammer, and School Board members Ginger Littleton, Steve Moss and Joe Wayne Walker.

Bay County Supervisor of Elections Mark Andersen said it is unusual for there to be no competition for the local seats.

“I have been here since 2000, and I’ve never seen it,” he said.

Tunnell said he was pleased he would not have to be in a competitive race like the last election.

“I’m still pinching myself,” he said of winning the election without having to run for the seat.

In his next term, the current chairman of the County Commission said they face many challenges.

“We’ve got so much to do,” he said. “We’ve got to get right back to work on our budget. We are in the heat of budget season. I’m trying to still provide the government services, local services across the board that all our residents are used to having and at the same time trying to keep taxes down.”

He said commissioners may not always agree, but they have been working well together.

Gainer said he believes the fact that no one filed to run against the incumbent commissioners suggests Bay County residents have a feeling of confidence that commissioners are doing a good job. He added they have good reason to believe that.

“I just hope we can maintain the confidence in the people by making the right decisions,” he said. “This may sound political, but it’s been something we’ve all been mindful of: just doing the right thing in keeping taxes as low as we can and keeping services at the same level. We’ve made a lot of changes. There are still some things that are a work in progress. We’re working on animal control. We’ve got to address Spring Break, the county’s portion of it.”

School Board member Walker said he was “humbly honored” to be able to serve a second four-year term.

“I want to continue on with some of the things that we have established,” he said. “We have more students that are graduating with career certifications. I’d like to continue so more students are graduating with a diploma and a certification, and working with career technical education, making sure the right kinds of programs are in place so when a young person is out of high school they can find a job.”

Littleton said in her next term she wants to support schools that need help.

“My commitment right now is to the schools that struggle, which are generally on the east side,” she said. “I think we need to find ways to support those learners. That may be an extended school day. I’m not sure what it will look like. We’ve got to figure that out.”

Some of the state and federal races are shaping up to be competitive after Friday’s filing deadline.

Luther Lee of Tallahassee, no party affiliation, has qualified to run for the U.S. Congressional District 2 race. The incumbent is Republican Steve Southerland and the Democratic challenger is Gwen Graham.

Those qualifying to run for the District 6 state representative race include: Republicans Norman Bishop of Panama City, Melissa Hagan of Lynn Haven, Thelma Rohan of Panama City and Jay Trumbull of Panama City; Democrat Jamie Shepard of Panama City, and Green Party member Henry Newman Lawrence III of Panama City. A newcomer will win that seat because Jimmy Patronis could not run again due to term limits.

In the race for District 5 state representative, Republican Brad Drake of DeFuniak Springs has qualified to run. He is being challenged by Libertarian candidate Karen Schoen of Wausau. State Rep. Marti Coley is leaving that office due to term limits.

State Rep. District 7 Halsey Beshears of Monticello will serve again because of no challengers for the seat.

Qualifying in the nonpartisan 14th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Group 10 race were incumbent Jim Fensom of Panama City, Shalene Grover of Marianna and Gerard Virga of Panama City.

In the Circuit 1 Group 4 race, incumbent Michael T. Jones will serve again, as no one filed to run against him.