Last chance for August primary candidate filings

Potential candidates for county offices in Missouri have until 5 p.m. Tuesday to file for the Aug. 4 primary elections at the county clerk’s offices in their respective counties.

In Cape Girardeau County and the surrounding counties of Bollinger, Perry and Scott, a total of 57 candidates had filed as of Monday for 28 offices in the four counties since the filing period opened Feb. 25.

All but three of those 57 candidates have filed as Republicans.

Cape Girardeau County

Twelve Republican candidates are seeking election to seven countywide offices. As of Monday, primary races had formed for three of those positions — District 1 associate commissioner, sheriff and coroner.

In the District 1 associate commissioner race, incumbent Paul Koeper is running against Dwayne Kirchhoff and Josh Biester.

Ruth Ann Dickerson is seeking reelection as Cape Girardeau County sheriff and is facing a challenge from Charles A. “Drew” Juden III.

And three candidates have filed to replace retiring Coroner John Clifton — Wavis Jordan, K. Gerald “Jerry” Swan and Dennis Turner.

Barring a last-minute filing, several incumbent office holders in Cape Girardeau County will run unopposed in the Aug. 4 primary. They are District 2 Associate Commissioner Charlie Herbst, Assessor Bob Adams, Treasurer Roger L. Hudson and Public Administrator Lisa Reitzel.

Scott County

Ten Republicans and three Democrats had filed as of Monday for election to one of eight offices in Scott County.

In the race for associate commissioner from the county’s 1st District, incumbent Dennis Ziegenhorn is unopposed on the Democratic ballot while two Republican candidates, Terry Cole and John Graham, will face each other in the August primary for the right to run against him.

Another incumbent Democrat, 2nd District Commissioner Donnie Kiefer, is also running unopposed in the primary. He will face the winner of the Republican primary in which three candidates, Mike Adams, Mike Backfisch Jr. and Monty Keesee, are running.

Two Republican candidates, Charles Brant Pratt and Shelley White Taylor, had filed as of Monday to replace Assessor Teresa Houchin who is retiring from the office.

Unless there are additional filings Tuesday, several incumbent Scott County officeholders will run unopposed on their respective party’s primary ballots. They include Coroner Scott Amick, Sheriff Wes Drury, Public Administrator Julia Crader Dolan and Circuit Clerk Stacey Naile. Amick’s name will appear on the Democratic ballot while Drury, Dolan and Naile are all running as Republicans. Another Republican, Carl Rose, had filed to run against Drury, but withdrew his name Feb. 26.

The office of surveyor in Scott County is also available this year, but as of Monday no one had filed for the position on either the Republican or Democratic ticket.

Perry County

Six people have filed so far to replace Perry County’s retiring 2nd District Associate Commissioner Jim Sutterer including his son, Chad Sutterer. He and the other five candidates have all filed as Republicans. The other candidates are Todd Bergman, Keith Hoehn, Douglas K. Martin, Daniel Miesner and Thomas Unger.

Teresa Worthington has put her name on the Republican ballot in Perry County to run against incumbent Sheriff Gary Schaaf, who has also filed as a Republican.

In one other contested race in Perry County, incumbent Public Administrator Tammy Tarrillion is being challenged on the Republican primary ballot by Jennifer Freeman.

Barring any late filings, several incumbent officeholders in Perry County, all Republicans, will run unopposed in the August primary and November general election. They are 1st District Associate Commissioner Jay Wengert, Assessor Charles Triller, Coroner William Bohnert and Surveyor Tim Baer.

Bollinger County

Races for several offices in Bollinger County will be decided in the August primary, including the elections for two county commission seats, the sheriff’s office and the county coroner.

As of Monday, four candidates had filed as Republicans to run against incumbent Republican Roger VanGennip for the county’s 1st District associate commissioner seat. The challengers are Denny Cato, Tim Hastings, Tim Shelby and Kenny Trentham.

In the county’s 2nd District, five candidates will be on the Republican ballot seeking to replace Wayne Johnson, a former Bollinger County presiding commissioner who was appointed in February to replace Roy Garner, who resigned in December and is not running for the position. The five are James Barker, Jerry Boyd, Chad Hulvey, Stash Petton and Johnnie Robbins.

Three candidates have filed on the Republican ballot to replace Bollinger County Sheriff Darin Shell. Shell, who has been the county’s sheriff since 2013, is not seeking reelection. The candidates who want to be the county’s next sheriff are Casey Graham, Dewayne Howard and Kristin Nenninger.

There are also three candidates running in the Republican primary to serve as the county’s coroner. They are Billy Castile, Amanda Lutes and Calvin Troxell. The current coroner, Charles Hutchings, is not seeking reelection.

Two other incumbent officeholders, Assessor Ronda Elfrink and Public Administrator Larry Welker, are running unopposed in the Republican primary.

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