Published: March 02, 2009 09:36 pm      

May elections begin to take shape

Only five official filing days remain for the upcoming May 9 election, and there is finally some activity in many of the races.

The city of Orange will feature a race between incumbent Jimmy Sims and challenger Elgin Browning for the Place 2 seat on City Council this May. Deborah Mitchell, the Place 4 incumbent, has filed for the election but remains unopposed at this time.

Things appear to be heating up for the May ballot in the city of Pinehurst which has three seats up for grabs. Incumbents Bessie Huckaby and Dan Barclay have both filed to retain their at-large council seats, but Incumbent Jennifer Reneau has yet to file her paperwork.

A former council member in George Michael “Mike” Anderson has also tossed his name into the candidate pool, as has newcomer Bill Triggs. Reports indicate several more packets have been picked up by people interested in running for office, so this could be an election to watch.

The city of Bridge City will have an election for the Place 5 council seat, which is currently held by Richard Savoy.

Savoy, who was appointed to the seat in January after it was vacated by Mark Philpott, will face off against opponent Lucy J. Fields in May.

Incumbents Kevin Mott, Place 1, and Robert Simonton, Place 5, have both filed to retain their seats, but no other challengers have come forth.

With only five days left before the filing deadline, all incumbents for the city of West Orange will seek re-election.

Those include Mayor Roy MacDonald, and at-large council members Francis Droddy and Charles Winter. All races remain uncontested as of Monday.

As of Feb. 23, all four incumbents for the city of Vidor have applied to seek re-election, which includes Ray Long, mayor; Don Eicher, Ward 1; Mallie Bickham, Ward 4; and David Slaughter, Ward 6.

It is not known at this time if any new candidates have come forth as repeated attempts to gather updated information from Vidor City Hall on Monday were unsuccessful.

Four seats are available this election in Pine Forest, including the position held by Mayor Jody Crump and council seats currently held by John Davis, Place 1; Lita Germann, Place 4; and James Eubank, Place 5; are also open this election. However, no incumbent has submitted paperwork for any of the city’s positions nor have any opponents.

The same goes for Rose City as four seats are open on city council this election, including mayor and three at-large council positions.

Incumbents include Mayor David Bush and council members Carolyn Scoonfield, Ruth Dubuisson, and Ryan Long, but none have filed the necessary paperwork in order to retain their current council position.

School board elections have started to take shape this past week as well, especially the West Orange-Cove Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees.

Incumbents Pete Amy and Eric Mitchell have both filed seeking re-election, but will face opposition from familiar names such as Essie L. Bellfield and Richard “Dickie” Taylor III.

Vidor ISD will also hold an election in May as Incumbent Mike Quinn will face off against challenger Rick Powell for the Position 2 school board seat.

Incumbent Pancho Houston, who was appointed the Position 1, reportedly will not seek re-election. Former board member Rollie Burr has submitted his name as a candidate.

The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Consolidated Independent School District does not look to have an election at this time, but that could change if one more person files before before Monday’s deadline.

Incumbents David Jones and Don Anderson have both signed up to retain their school board posts, but Donna Scheer has not.

Both incumbents on the school board of the Bridge City Independent School District, Lon Hubbard and Kirk Ellender, have filed for re-election, but do not have any opposition as of Monday.



Tommy Mann Jr. is a reporter for The Orange Leader. He can be reached at 409-883-3571, Ext. 2619 or tmann@orangeleader.com