Carter Elliott, Staff Columnist~
Now that January has come to and end and the month of February is upon us, most people are looking forward to Super Bowl weekend; however, there are some that are interested in the local political landscape.
Local elections are certainly heating up with more and more people throwing in their hat to run for public office. In the sixth district there are two Democratic candidates, Sergio Coppola and Peter Volosin. On the Republican side there’s a plethora of competition with a total of eight candidates: Ben Cline, Cynthia Dunbar, Mike Desjadon, Chaz Haywood, Ed Justo, Kathryn Lewis (A Lynchburg College Graduate), Elliot Pope and Douglas Wright. There are also two independents in the race: Steve America and Michael Friend.
Our neighbors in the fifth district have a different situation since the incumbent congressman Tom Garrett is running for reelection. The Democratic challengers facing him are Leslie Cockburn, Ben Cullop, Roger Huffstetler and Andrew Sneathern. There is also one independent candidate, John Hargis.
In the City of Lynchburg, there are three positions open within the City Council and several people have joined the race, including last fall’s Democratic nominee for the local seat in the House of Delegates, Natalie Short. In the state we have an exciting election in the US Senate, with senator Tim Kaine running for reelection on the Democratic ticket. Several Republicans have thrown their hat in the race to challenge the senator. These candidates include Corey Stewart, E.W. Jackson, Nick Freitas, Ivan Raiklin and Ron Wallace. Over the next couple of weeks, these candidates will be collecting petitioning signatures in order to get their name on the ballot. Afterwards, the primary season will begin and the race is on.
Needless to say, these midterm elections are extremely important. If you’re upset with what has been going on – good – get informed and vote. If you’re happy with what has been going on – good – then get informed and vote. Either way, we as citizens need to take it upon ourselves as a duty to be civically engaged and inform ourselves in order to make educated decisions this fall.