Perhaps the Fourth of July holiday hangover has worn off for potential Henderson election candidates. At least two more seats are assured of having someone in them, and Ward 3 is home to the city’s second confirmed contested race after three candidates filed today.
Ranger Wilkerson, despite some health problems in the past year, submitted his name for re-election to the at-large seat from Ward 4 this morning at the Vance County Board of Elections. The former fire chief ran without opposition two years ago.
He is the fifth City Council member to file for the nonpartisan Oct. 11 elections. Mary Emma Evans (Ward 1 ward seat), Bernard Alston (Ward 1 at-large seat), Mike Rainey (Ward 2 at-large seat) and Wilkerson are trying to hold their current seats. Ward 3’s ward representative, John Wester, has opted to seek the at-large seat, held by Elissa Yount.
Yount has not submitted her name for re-election but has indicated she will before the filing period ends at noon Aug. 5. The ward representatives for Ward 2, Harriette Butler, and Ward 4, Lonnie Davis, also have not filed.
Evans has one challenger so far, Glean Henderson Jr.
It didn’t take long for Ward 3 to get its own race when two men entered the race for the seat Wester is leaving after more than 11 years. As announced Sunday, Marty Gister submitted his candidacy paperwork Monday morning. Later in the day, as expected, Garry Daeke filed for the same seat.
Gister is making his first run for municipal office in Henderson. After losing his job as the economy restructured four years ago, Gister has earned a nursing degree from Vance-Granville Community College and is scheduled to start working for Duke University Medical Center this month.
Daeke lost to Yount two years ago in the race for the at-large Ward 3 seat, which Jeanne Hight surrendered to run for mayor. Daeke is resources coordinator for the local Smart Start agency, the Franklin-Granville-Vance Partnership for Children, and is a longtime board member for the Henderson-Vance Downtown Development Commission. He has represented the DDC on the steering committee creating the Henderson-Vance Economic Partnership.
Both Gister and Daeke are regulars at City Council meetings, and both frequently post comments under their own names at HomeinHenderson.com.
No one has filed to run for Henderson mayor yet, and no one has filed for any office in the towns of Kittrell and Middleburg.