Ballots set for local races

Published 11:31 pm Thursday, June 12, 2014

Two former city representatives ousted from their seats in the 2011 redistricting process will challenge the incumbents in their new districts in November’s election following the filing deadline earlier this week.

Leroy Bennett, who previously served four terms as the Nansemond borough representative before being drawn out of his district, is challenging Vice Mayor Charles Brown, who has been on City Council for 20 years, for the Cypress borough seat. In 2012, Bennett lost a challenge to Mayor Linda T. Johnson after being forced out of his seat.

Clinton Jenkins also is in the race for the Cypress seat.

Email newsletter signup

On the School Board, former representative Thelma Hinton — who was forced from her Nansemond seat in the same manner as Bennett — will challenge Chairman Michael Debranski for his Suffolk borough seat.

Back on City Council, Councilman Charles Parr of the Suffolk borough also faces a two-way challenge from Don Goldberg and Kerry Holmes. Councilman Jeffrey Gardy of the Holy Neck borough will compete against challenger Tim Johnson.

In the Chuckatuck borough, Councilman Mike Duman is the only member up for election this year who will run unopposed.

On the School Board, member Lorraine Skeeter in the Cypress borough and Vice Chair Enoch Copeland in the Holy Neck borough will run unopposed. In Chuckatuck, however, incumbent Linda Bouchard will compete against Dorothy Bland Gamble in a redux of 2010’s race for a seat that was open that year.

Also on Nov. 4 will be a special election for the School Board’s Sleepy Hole seat, vacated this spring by Diane Foster when she moved to another borough. Candidates for that seat, however, have another two months to file.