Qualified County Candidates Start Two Month Campaign to Aug. 23 Primary Election; Many Incumbents Re-Elected without Opposition

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

With the August 23 primary just two months away, candidates have qualified to run for office and some of the existing officer holders have already been elected without opposition.

District 2 Levy County Commissioner Rock Meeks, a Republican, qualified for office without opposition as did District 1 School Board member Cameron Asbell and District 3 School Board member Ashley Clemenzi.

In the District 5 school board race to replace retiring School Board member Brad Etheridge, Larry E. Jones, and Devin Whitehurst have qualified to run for the position.

All school board races are non-partisan. The candidates aren’t connected to a political party.

The District 4 Levy County Commission race to replace retiring Commissioner Lilly Rooks has four qualified candidates – Charlene Watson Calvillo, Billy Hinote, Tim Hodge, and Laura Mott, all Republican.

In the District 3 Levy County Commission race, Republicans Clifton Harrell and Desiree Jerrels Mills have qualified to run for the seat. The winner will replace the late Mike Joyner.

In the race for Property Appraiser, James Allen, David Rogers, and Jason Whistler have qualified to run for the office. The winner will replace the late Osborn “Oz” Barker.

The four men running for the Soil and Water Conservation Board have qualified without opposition and have won their races. They are Thomas Harper from Group 1, David Benton from Group 2, Wilbur Dean from Group 3, and Jake Sache from Group 5.

If the name Wilbur Dean sounds familiar, he is the current county coordinator for the Levy County Commission and served as a Levy County Commissioner in the 1990s.

Soil and Water Conservation Board members run with no party affiliation. They hold non-partisan offices.