Escambia County primary election, 2008

Various county-wide elected offices, three of five Escambia County Commission and ECUA seats, various Circuit Court judgeships, and two Escambia County School Board seats will be contested in elections to be held in 2008. Primary elections were held on August 26, 2008, with elected candidates proceeding to the general election, to be held November 4.

Incumbents are marked by (i).

County-wide offices

Escambia County Sheriff

Republican primary

●REP	David Morgan	13,565	56.7%
●REP	Ron McNesby (i)	10,354	43.3%

Democratic primary

●DEM	Larry Scapecchi	10,765	65.4%
●DEM	Samuel E. Lucas	5,686	34.6%

Superintendent of Schools

Republican primary

●REP	Malcolm Thomas

Republicans Jim Paul, the incumbent, as well as Ronnie Arnold and Alan Scott, pre-filed for the race but later withdrew. As no other Republican candidates qualified, Malcolm Thomas advanced by default to the general election.

Democratic primary

●DEM	Claudia Brown-Curry	9,256	54.8%
●DEM	Cary Stidham	4,741	28.1%
●DEM	Myra L. Simmons	2,880	17.1%

Elected by default

Clerk of the Circuit Court

●REP	Ernie Lee Magaha (i)

As no other candidates qualified for the office, Magaha was reelected by default.

Property Appraiser

●DEM	Chris Jones (i)

As no other candidates qualified for the office, Jones was reelected by default.

Tax Collector

●DEM	Janet Holley (i)

As no other candidates qualified for the office, Holley was reelected by default.

Supervisor of Elections

●REP	David H. Stafford (i)

As no other candidates qualified for the office, Stafford was reelected by default.

Escambia County Commission

District 1

Republican primary

●REP	Wilson Robertson	4,752	80.8%
●REP	Mike Whitehead (i)	1,129	19.2%

Republican John D. Dale pre-filed for the race but later withdrew.

Democratic primary

●DEM	Stephen M. Davidson

As no other Democratic candidates qualified, Stephen M. Davidson advanced by default to the general election.

District 3

Republican primary

●REP	Jacob Pawelski

As no other Republican candidates qualified, Jacob Pawelski advanced by default to the general election.

Democratic primary

●DEM	Marie K. Young (i)	3,391	62.3%
●DEM	Judy Cook	945	17.4%
●DEM	Russ Swinney	685	12.6%
●DEM	Rev. Clinton E. Powell, Sr.	423	7.8%

Democrats Hugh G. King, Sr. and Gerald McKenzie pre-filed for the race but later withdrew.

Third-party and unaffiliated candidates

●NPA	John R. "Dooley" Johnson

As a candidate unaffiliated with a political party, John R. "Dooley" Johnson advanced automatically to the general election.

District 5

Republican primary

●REP	Kevin W. White (i)	3,655	57.5%
●REP	Packy Mitchell	1,668	26.2%
●REP	Chris Washler	541	8.5%
●REP	Randall E. McCrackin	492	7.7%

Democratic primary

●DEM	Jim Barnett	1,690	51.5%
●DEM	John F. Hartman	1,594	48.5%

Democrat Georgette Harris pre-filed for the race but later withdrew.

Third-party and unaffiliated candidates

Aaron M. Schmidt (no party affiliation) pre-filed for the race but later withdrew.

Emerald Coast Utilities Authority

District 1

Universal primary

As the only candidates to qualify were Republican, this race was a "universal primary" in which voters of all party affiliations were entitled to vote, and the winner of the race was elected without the need to run in the general election.

●REP	Elizabeth S. Campbell	3,688	43.2%
●REP	Logan Fink (i)	3,417	40.0%
●REP	Harlan Jennings	1,431	16.8%

District 3

Republican primary

●REP	Joshua Joscelyn

As no other Republican candidates qualified, Joshua Joscelyn advanced by default to the general election.

Democratic primary

●DEM	Elvin McCorvey (i)	3,862	72.9%
●DEM	Benell English	1,434	27.1%

District 5

Universal primary

As the only candidates to qualify were Republican, this race was a "universal primary" in which voters of all party affiliations were entitled to vote, and the winner of the race was elected without the need to run in the general election.

●REP	Larry Walker (i)	7,459	76.1%
●REP	Barry B. Tweedie	2,338	23.9%

Escambia County School Board

Escambia County School Board seats are non-partisan and unlike other nonpartisan offices are contested at the time of the partisan primaries. In the event that no candidate in a School Board race does not receive a majority of votes cast, the top two candidates proceed to a run-off contested at the time of the general election.

District 3

Claudia Brown-Curry resigned this seat effective November 18, 2008 in order to run for Escambia County Superintendent of Schools. This triggered an election to fill the remainder of her term, which expires in 2010.

Linda F. Moultrie	3,413	51.7%
LuTimothy May	3,183	48.3%

Lawrence Powell and Ellison Bennett both pre-filed for the race but did not qualify.

District 4

Patty Hightower (i)

As no other candidates qualified for the office, Hightower was reelected by default.

District 5

Bill Slayton	3,684	35.2%
Tom Harrell	3,227	30.8%
Peter R. Gindl, Sr. (i)	2,497	23.8%
Robert Tegenkamp	1,064	10.2%

Rick Lambert pre-filed for the race, but later withdrew.

Escambia County Soil & Water Conservation Board

Seats on the Soil & Water Conservation Board are non-partisan.

District 1

Anne B. Bennett (i)

As no other candidates qualified for the office, Bennett was reelected by default.

District 2

Greg Fink resigned this seat effective November 4, 2008, to run for State Representative, District 2. This triggered an election to fill the remainder of his term, which expires in 2010.

Richard Pope

As no other candidates qualified for the office, Pope was elected by default.

District 3

Richard W. Freisinger

As no other candidates qualified for the office, Freisinger was elected by default.

District 5

Marvino J. Allen

Clifford "Cliff" Fiveash

Dillon M. Powell

Santa Rosa Island Authority

One member of this board is elected; the rest are appointed by members of the Escambia County Commission. Seats are nonpartisan.

Thomas Campanella

As no other candidates qualified for the office, Campanella was reelected by default.

See also

• Escambia County general election, 2008
• Pensacola city elections, 2008
• State and federal elections, 2008