With the Cullman County Commission set to expand from three to five members this year, the candidate field for the upcoming election for the county’s four new associate commissioners’ seats is especially crowded among local races.

Qualifying ended on Jan. 28 for county and state races, meaning the field of candidates is set for the May 24 primary election. The associate county commissioner race is now split into four separate candidate fields — one for each of the county’s four new districts — and two of those races are uncontested, featuring only a single candidate.

Incumbent associate commissioner Kerry Watson will run unopposed for the District 1 seat on the commission, while Kelly Duke will run unopposed for the District 3 seat. The District 2 race features incumbent associate commissioner Garry Marchman, who faces opposition from GOP challengers Josh Speakman and Richard Barnett; while the District 4 race will field five candidates — all newcomers vying to represent the newly-created district. In District 4, Andy Pate, Corey Freeman, Jeremy S. Jackson, Kristi Creel Bain, and Morris L. Williams will square off in the May 24 Republican primary.

The intersection of U.S. Highway 31 and U.S. Highway 278 serves as the four-way dividing line to create the four new associate commissioner districts, but every citizen of Cullman County is eligible to cast a vote for each of the four district races. Lawmakers who drafted the new five-member commission setup said they created the four separate districts as a way to ensure that each quadrant of the county would field a representative who resides in the area, even though all associate commissioners will be elected to represent the population of the entire county.

A handful of other local races feature only a single candidate. Those include the race for Cullman County sheriff, which fields only incumbent Matt Gentry, as well as two seats on the Cullman County Board of Education: District 2 (Fairview), which features only Shane Rusk; and District 7 (Good Hope), which features only Kerry Neighbors. Both are current incumbents in those same seats.

Two other county school board races are on the primary ballot this year: the District 4 (Hanceville) seat, and the District 6 (Vinemont) seat. At Hanceville, incumbent Kenny Brockman faces a GOP primary challenge from Travis Eskew; at Vinemont, incumbent Republican Mike Graves faces a primary challenge from Jamie Weathersby Smith.

Finally, the coroner’s race will be a two-person primary contest between incumbent Jeremy Kilpatrick and challenger Kevin Henry. In all of the races named above, no local Democrat has qualified, meaning that the winners of each race in the May GOP primary will go on to take office, since they will face no party opposition in the November general election.

All of the races listed above are county-level races whose candidates qualify through the Cullman County probate judge’s office. With the exception of the U.S. House race, whose qualifying deadline has been extended due to a court order, candidate qualifying is also final for state and federal races in which local voters will cast a ballot. Those races include the Place 6 seat on the Alabama School Board, the District 12 seat of the Alabama House of Representatives, the district attorney’s seat, and the Place 1 seat on the Cullman County District Court.

For the Place 6 seat on the Alabama School Board (which includes Cullman County), Republicans Marie Manning and Priscilla Yother will face off in the May 24 GOP primary, with the winner replacing incumbent Cynthia Sanders McCarty. No Democrat qualified for the Place 6 race.

In the District 12 race for the Alabama House of Representatives, incumbent Republican Corey Harbison faces no primary opposition, but will face Democrat James C. Fields Jr. in the November general election. Fields faces no party opposition in the Democratic primary.

In the district attorney’s race for the 32nd judicial circuit (which is contiguous with Cullman County), incumbent Wilson Blaylock will face GOP challenger Champ Crocker in the May 24 primary. No Democrats qualified for the district attorney’s race.

In the Place 1 seat for Cullman County District Judge, GOP incumbent Chad Floyd faces no opposition in either the Republican party primary or in the November general election.