The first three days of candidate qualifying for the May 19 party primaries and nonpartisan general election yielded a three-candidate primary race for Seat 2-B on the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners, with incumbent Commissioner Toby Conner and challengers Frank Bedell III and Dr. Theodore “Ted” Redman and all qualifying as Republicans.
Meanwhile, another Republican non-incumbent, Paul Roesel, remained as of Wednesday the only candidate who had signed up and paid the fee to run for Seat 2-D, currently held by Commissioner Timmy Rushing.
But incumbent Seat 1-B Commissioner Anthony Simmons, who went ahead and qualified Monday, was so far the only candidate for his seat and the only Democratic Party candidate for a county-level office in Bulloch.
For the four nonpartisan Board of Education seats up for election, the candidates so far were incumbent members Elizabeth Williams in District 2 and Donna Clifton in District 4 and a non-incumbent, retired educator Sharon Draeger, seeking the seat from District 6, currently held by Jimmy “Jay” Cook Jr.
Phoned Monday, Cook said he had not decided yet whether he will seek re-election.
All the candidates named here had, in fact, signed up Monday or Tuesday, with no new candidates appearing Wednesday.
One post up for election, the BOE District 5 seat held by Glennera Martin, had no candidate yet as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.
But the opportunity for candidates to qualify continues 9 a.m.‐5 p.m. Thursday, March 5, and then 9 a.m.‐noon Friday, March 6, with noon Friday being the statewide deadline.
Places to qualify
Where Bulloch County candidates go to complete their paperwork and pay their qualifying fees depends on whether they are running as Democrats, Republicans or for a nonpartisan office.
The local nonpartisan posts up for election are those four school board seats and the Bulloch County State Court judgeship. Candidates for these qualify at the Board of Elections and Registration office at the County Annex, 113 North Main St., Suite 201, where Election Supervisor Shontay Jones is in charge.
The three county commissioner seats mentioned here are Bulloch’s only in-county partisan offices up for election year this year.
Democrats seeking any of those seats would sign up with the Bulloch County Democratic Committee, whose chair is Krishna Medidi, across the hall from the Election Board office in the County Annex.
This year Republican candidates are qualifying with the Bulloch County Republican Party in the district office of state Rep. Lehman Franklin, upstairs in the Franklin Court building at 127 North Main St.
Bedell qualifies
That’s where Frank Bedell qualified for commissioner Seat 2-B around midday Monday, after having announced his intended candidacy in January.
Born in Savannah, Bedell moved to Bulloch County in 2019. He has operated a small business, B&B Trailers, in the Savannah area since 1995.
“I absolutely love the community I live in, and I am excited to serve the citizens of Bulloch County,” he said in his January release.
“I am running for commissioner because I believe that we need a commissioner who cares about the increased cost of living, who will protect our shared values, and will help to create a solid plan for growth and infrastructure,” Bedell said. “I have spent my career running a small business, which means I have had to make tough calls, balance budgets, and work with people to solve problems.”
Redman also 2-B
But the first candidate to sign up Monday for Seat 2-B was actually Ted Redman, who in a brief, written biography described himself as “a semi–retired ER doctor, married with seven kids, most … out of house now.”
He is also a retired, career Army veteran. Having started as a medic and gone to medical school while in the Army, Redman retired from the service after 25 years at the rank of lieutenant colonel. His career, he stated, included 13 combat deployments as an Army Ranger and member of Task Force 160.
He and his family moved to Bulloch County, where he and his wife are homeowners, in June 2020.
Redman currently has two part-time jobs, one at F3EA Inc. in Savannah and the other at Ogeechee Technical College as Emergency Medical Services medical director. He also serves as a volunteer firefighter with the Bulloch County Fire Department.
Conner for 2nd term
But Toby Conner, first elected in 2022, had said he would seek re-election, and qualified on Tuesday. So now it’s a three-candidate race for the Republican nomination in the May 19 primary, and if there is a runoff it would go to a June 16 ballot.
A lifelong Bulloch County farmer and former Georgia Ports Authority stevedore, Conner hails from the Stilson-Leefield area. He identified managed growth as a leading concern during his first campaign.
Roesel seeks Seat 2-D
Meanwhile, Paul Roesel had signed up Monday as a Republican candidate for Board of Commissioners Seat 2-D. A lifelong Bulloch resident, he retired last year as president of The Sack Company, a commercial and industrial contractor firm that was a family-owned business launched by his uncle H.A. Sack in 1945. Roesel had worked there for more than 45 years, since 1979.
The company is now under different ownership, and Roesel said that in retirement he is seeking a new way to contribute to the community. This is his first time seeking elected office. But Roesel has been appointed member of the Development Authority of Bulloch County board for more than 20 years, previously served on the Ogeechee Technical College board, and has volunteered in other community organizations.
In an announcement release, he said the role of county commissioner presents “stewardship responsibilities that demand sound judgment, fiscal discipline, and long-term thinking.”
“Growth creates opportunity—but without careful planning, it can strain our roads, infrastructure, public safety resources, and property owners,” Roesel said. “We must be proactive, not reactive. …”
The qualifying fee for a county commission seat is $225.
Draeger in BOE D-6
Unlike county commission seats, Board of Education seats are nonpartisan, so BOE candidates qualify directly at the county elections office. Also unlike the commissioners who are elected at-large in District 2 or District 1, each BOE member represents one of eight smaller districts.
The one non-incumbent candidate qualifying for a Board of Education in the first three days was Sharon Draeger, seeking the seat from District 6.
Having retired after 31 years as an educator, from paraprofessional to principal, primarily in Chatham County, Draeger now works part-time as program manager for the nonprofit Behavioral Pediatric Resource Center, based in Statesboro.
The qualifying fee for BOE seats is $72.
Judge Cushner qualified
Also officially nonpartisan, State Court Judge Joseph Cushner filed his paperwork Monday to seek re-election and sent out a press release.
"Since 2020, I have had the privilege of serving as your State Court Judge, working every day to ensure our legal system is fair, efficient, and transparent," Cushner said in the annoucement. "My commitment to the rule of law and to the people of this community remains my top priority, and I am running for re-election to continue the progress we have made together over the last six years.”
Previously county solicitor-general, or prosecutor of misdemeanor cases in the State Court, he was appointed to the judge’s role by Gov. Brian Kemp effective March 2020 following the 2019 retirement of Judge Gary Mikell. Cushner then won election to a four-year term over another local attorney who sought the office in 2022.
Any challenger this year would have until noon Friday to qualify and pay the same candidate fee that Cushner did, $5,081.38. Based on 3% of the salary for this full-time office requiring a Georgia lawyer who is a Bulloch County resident, the fee is much higher than for the part-time board posts.
Franklin seeks new term
State Rep. Lehman Franklin (R–Statesboro, House District 160) formally qualified Monday as a candidate for re-election with the Georgia Republican Party in Atlanta, while his Statesboro office was being used as the Bulloch GOP qualifying site.
“Public service requires careful stewardship, because the decisions we make in Atlanta set a framework for how our families live and how we earn a living. ….,” Franklin said in a release. “There is more work to do, and I remain committed to thoughtful, conservative leadership that keeps our communities strong, competitive, and prepared for the future.”