Sherry Womack filed for re-election to a seat on the Lee County Board of Education on Thursday, making her the second Republican to enter the race.
Republican Sandra Bowen, who held a seat on the board from 2014 to 2018, filed for a seat on Dec. 3. Four at large seats are available.
Democrats Patrick Kelly and Lynn Smith – both incumbents – and Jamie Laudate and Tom Frye filed for the seats on Dec. 1. It’s unclear whether incumbent Republican Stephen Coble plans to seek re-election.
Womack and Coble have both been the subject of controversy. It was revealed in 2017 that Womack had been arrested in 2011 on a breaking and entering charge that was apparently later expunged. Meanwhile, Coble’s party turned on him in 2019 over accusations of “party disloyalty” for a number of votes on a board that until 2013 was nonpartisan.
Interestingly, one of the positions local GOP leaders slammed Coble for was supporting Kelly, a Democrat, as the Board of Education’s chairman. On Tuesday, the board voted unanimously – including Womack and fellow Republican Pam Sutton – to re-elect Kelly to the position.
