We’ve already published Part #1, so let’s finish up our first look at the upcoming Halifax County elections. We’ll cover the school board and all of the constitutional office races. But first, we’ll take a look at the all-important (not) Board of Supervisors tiebreaker position. Let’s get started!
Tiebreaker: The Halifax County Board of Supervisors has had eight members ever since the South Boston reverted to town status. The thought of a 4-4 tie vote on the Board of Supervisors had never really came up until the recent Team Bowman/Team Claiborne stalemate and then the screams of “WE MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS NOW!” started. It took legislation in the General Assembly to make it happen, but we now have a tiebreaker position for the board. Understand that whoever wins this election won’t be required to actually attend the meeting and cast the tiebreaking vote there, but will have a few weeks to sit back and think about it (while being hounded by lots-o-people). The chances of this position ever facing another 4-4 tie vote is slightly lower than diddlysquat, but hey, you asked for it and you got it.
We’ve got three candidates for this race. Korey Snead, Peter Bednarz and Jimmy Wade. I know relatively nothing about any of these candidates. I do know that the position will probably never be used before it’s eliminated in the 2020 redistricting. Anybody can do the tiebreaker job, and there’s no real qualifications needed for it. I’ve get a feeling it will come down to being a popularity contest at the polls, and whoever spends the most on signs will probably win. For now, SouthsideCentral is going to put the TOSSUP rating on this race.
Now, let’s move on to the school board. Five races, with four of them uncontested. Let’s knock those four off first.
District 4: Cheryl Terry is one-and-done, and the person she defeated is unopposed for the seat this cycle. Joe Gasperini will be back on the school board. It’s about time. Gasperini was a great board member and I’ve got no doubt that he’ll pick back up where he left off.
District 5: Roger Long will be missed, as he’s not running for reelection. Long had a great educational background and was a strong advocate for education. Freddie Edmunds is running unopposed in this district.
District 7: Dick Stoneman draws no opposition for his run for a second term. He’s done a very good job in his first four years.
District 8: Walter Potts is running unopposed. Walter Potts hates All Things Merle Herndon. The school system is doing terrifically with All Things Merle Herndon. Walter Potts is unhappy. Walter Potts votes “NO” on lots of things. Walter Potts has no effect with those “NO” votes. Walter Potts and his district will get four more years of The Outsider Walter Potts.
Now to the only race that’s contested…
District 1: Incumbent Phyllis Smith is facing challenger Orey Hill. The only thing that would make Smith vulnerable is if a large group of Anti-Merle Herndon supporters get organized and try to get her voted out. The Anti-Merle Herndon supporters were organized for about 10 days after she kneecapped Albert Randolph then fell quickly apart. Weird things can happen in small district races like this, but I haven’t seen any signs of an anti-incumbent push so far. I’m not ready to put the SAFE tag on this one quite yet, but I am very willing to rate it as LIKELY – SMITH.
If you know how the big award shows works, they save the top awards for the end of the show. We’re just as cheesy here on SouthsideCentral. Let’s talk about the race for Halifax County Sheriff (audience cheers)! But first, we have to talk about the rest of the constitutional offices on the undercard (audience groans).
Four of the constitutional office races are uncontested. Let’s fly through those.
Clerk of Court: Cathy Cosby will pick up her full eight-year term after last year’s special election to fill out the rest of Bobby Conner’s unexpired term. I was secretly hoping for a rematch between Cosby and Donnie Amos because Amos made the race got hilariously bizarre as Election Day approached. Once the results were in, Amos started to meltdown and sad yet funny hilarity ensued. Amos didn’t sign up for this round, but maybe he’ll be back for the 2023 election.
Commissioner of Revenue: After all of the criticism thrown at Brenda Powell for having a large amount of delinquent taxes and office screw-ups, absolutely nobody filed to run again her. So that happened. Or didn’t happen.
Treasurer: Linda Foster retired and Ruth Oakes took her place in the interim. Nobody declared against Oakes, so she will win a complete four-year term.
Commonwealth’s Attorney: Tracy Martin has no opposition for her first full four-year term. She’s done a good job so far and having no challenger really wasn’t a surprise.
And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… the race for Halifax County Sheriff.
Sheriff: Fred Clark is the incumbent sheriff, having defeated former sheriff Stanley Noblin in 2011. Incumbent Halifax County sheriff haven’t fared too well in the past two elections, but that’s because both Jeff Oakes and Stanley Noblin completely imploded. Fred Clark doesn’t have any of that baggage so he goes into this election with the incumbent’s natural advantage. He’s got two challengers, Thomas Logan and Chris Hudson. Let’s take a look at all three candidates.
Fred Clark: Let’s be real to start with. A pizza would have beaten Stanley Noblin in 2011. Even a pizza with just anchovies. But Fred Clark was highly qualified for the office and didn’t mention Noblin’s problems at all, because he didn’t need to. Fred Clark campaigned on his own accomplishments & potential, and his first term of office has been mostly successful. The sheriff is going to make some people upset along the way, but that’s how the job works. Clark remains highly qualified for the job and he’s got a lot of county support.
Chris Hudson: Hudson was a deputy under Fred Clark’s administration and did well at his job. “You get one chance to kill the king” is a rule in races like sheriff, and Hudson’s taking that chance now. There was no chance in hell of Fred Clark keeping Hudson employed while he was running against him, and Hudson knew that. Hudson went out in style with his campaign announcement, posing in uniform beside a patrol car. We award him bonus style points for that. I feel that Hudson is qualified with his law enforcement experience, but he’ll have to pick up on the administrative part of the job if he’s elected. That’s not a disqualifying factor, so Hudson is a viable choice for the office.
Thomas Logan: Logan had been with the sheriff’s department for what seems like 624 years. He worked his way up from road deputy to high-rank administration. He’s highly qualified in all categories. He’s taking his “one chance to kill the king” after he retired, so he’s got nothing to lose with his law enforcement career.
Analysis: One challenger would have a hard time defeating a popular incumbent like Fred Clark. Two challengers have very little chance at knocking off a solid incumbent because of the vote splitting factor. Unless Fred Clark makes a big mistake or is ambushed by an October Surprise Disaster Scandal, he’s going to get at least 50% of the vote. Based on Halifax County vote trends, Thomas Logan is going to get a majority of the black vote. That being said, the black vote is historically low in off-year elections like this one, so Logan has to have a strong get out the vote effort. Hudson’s votes will be from “The people that don’t like Fred Clark”, and there’s less of them than “The people that do like Fred Clark” now.
If Logan & Hudson get together and make a deal to combine their support blocs, then they become a possibility to mount a challenge at Clark. Honestly, I don’t see that happening. As of now, it’s two viable challengers against a decently strong incumbent. That’s enough for a LIKELY – CLARK rating now.
That completes our first look at the upcoming Halifax County elections. We’ll publish occasional updates until Election Day and will be making our endorsements in the final week of campaigning.
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