Here who has filed so far in Jefferson, Orange county races

Published 12:34 am Wednesday, February 1, 2023

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Filings for seats on school board, city council and other elected seats in portions of Jefferson and Orange counties are off to a relatively slow start.

Filing is open through Feb. 18.

The uniform election date is May 7.

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Early voting begins April 25 through May 3.

Port Arthur and Mid County:

City of Port Arthur

For Port Arthur City Council, three people have filed for three of the six expiring seats.

Tiffany Hamilton has filed for District 2. Charles Joseph has filed for District 3. Allen Opie” Valka has filed for District 4.

As of Tuesday no one has filed for District 1, Position 7 or Position 8. Those seats are currently held by incumbents Ingrid Holmes, Charlotte Moses and Donald Frank respectively.

Terms are for three years.

Port Arthur Independent School District

In PAISD, two seats are up for grabs with only one person filing for office thus far, Nina Gail Stelly.

Incumbents are Kenneth Lofton Sr. and Joseph Guillory II.

Guillory was recently sworn in as Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace. Lloyd Marie Johnson, who previously served as a trustee, was recently appointed to replace Guillory until a trustee is elected to the position.

Terms are for three years.

City of Nederland

Filing for a seat on Nederland City Council got off to a busy start with three people filing for the Ward 1 seat.

They are Brent Duplant, Curtis Stratton and Blaine Seymour. The incumbent for the seat is Talmadge Austin, who has not filed.

Ward 2 incumbent Randy Sonnier has filed for reelection. A second candidate had filed for the position but his application was rejected in accordance with State law and city charter.

The term is for three years.

Nederland Independent School District

In the NISD school board race only the two incumbents have filed; Kay DeCuir and Jerry Albanese.

Terms are for three years.

Sabine Pass Independent School District

There are two seats up for election on the SPISD school board. There have been no filings yet.

Incumbents are Trustee Julie Saunders and Trustee Charlotte Deslatte. 

Sabine Pass Port Authority

Three seats are up for election in the Sabine Pass Port Authority race and all three incumbents have filed for reelection; Ricky Keltz, Suzette Chumley and Lin Berg.

Terms are for two years. 

In Orange County:

City of Bridge City

Of the three seats up for election on Bridge City City Council, only two people have filed.

They include Place 1 incumbent Ann Roccaforte and Bryant Champagne for Place 3 seat. No one has filed for the Place 5 seat yet.

Bridge City Independent School District

The seats for two board members are up for election. They are Place 6 Michael C. Johnson and Place 7 Mark Anderson.

A call to the ISD was not returned by Tuesday afternoon.

Orange City Council

Orange City Council has two seats up for election and only one person has filed so far.

Place 6 incumbent Paul Birch has filed for reelection.

No one has filed for the District 3 seat.

Terms are for three years.

West Orange-Cove Consolidated Independent School District

Two seats are up on the WOCCISD board with one person filing so far; Incumbent Ruthie Hancock.

City of West Orange

Three seats are up for election on West Orange City Council with two people filing so far.

They include Mayor Randy Branch and Councilwoman Meritta Kennedy.

Little Cypress-Mauriceville Independent School District

In LC-MISD all three incumbents have filed for reelection.

They include Place 1 Clinton Temple, Place 2 Joshua Fisher and Place 5 Kevin Wallace.

City of Vidor

The mayor’s seat and three council seats are up for election.

Filings include Mayor Misty Songe, Ward 1 Mercedes Lee and Ward 4 Jessica Baker.

No one has filed for the Ward 6 seat yet.

Terms are for two years.

Vidor Independent School District

There are five seats up on Vidor ISD school board.

Filings include Position 1 incumbent Gina VanDevender, Natalie Long and Dr. Billy Jordan for Position 4, Brooke Gilthorpe for Position 5, and Position 6 incumbent Rollie Burr.

No one has filed for the Position 7 seat.

Filings, election

Filing runs to Feb. 17 for the May 6 election.

Early voting for the May election is from April 24 to May 2.