Two incumbents, a former office holder and a candidate who came close in 2018 declared their candidacy Tuesday for seats on the Lee County Board of Commissioners and the Lee County Board of Education.
Democrats Amy Dalrymple, Cameron Sharpe and Mark Lovick went to the Lee County Board of Elections office Tuesday afternoon to make their candidacies for the board’s three at large seats official. Lovick came within 72 votes of defeating District 3 Lee County Commissioner Andre Knecht in the 2018 race, while Sharpe was the top vote getter in his 2016 race. Dalrymple, the board’s chairwoman, was first elected to fill an unexpired term in a district seat in 2008. She was defeated in 2010 and then won election to one of the at large seats by a wide margin in 2012. She won re-election in 2016.
The available seats on the board of commissioners are held by Dalrymple, Sharpe and Democratic Commissioner Kevin Dodson, who first won election as a Republican before switching parties. Dodson has signaled his intent to run for sheriff of Lee County in 2022 (he was defeated in 2018 by incumbent Sheriff Tracy Carter), and has not made any public statements about his plans for 2020.
Meanwhile, Republican Sandra Bowen filed Tuesday for a seat on the Lee County Board of Education, on which she served from 2014 to 2018, when she was ousted in a re-election bid by just 78 votes. As of Tuesday evening, she’s the only Republican to have filed for any of the four available seats on the board. Four Democrats, including two incumbents and two newcomers, filed on Monday.
State Rep. John Sauls, a Republican, and Lee County Register of Deeds Pam Britt, a Democrat, also filed for re-election on Monday.
