NATCHEZ, Miss. – Candidates wanting to run against Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson and the city’s six aldermen have four weeks to qualify to be on the ballot in the upcoming election.
All the incumbents have filed to run for reelection with no challengers yet except for Ward 5 Alderman Ben Davis, according to the list provided today by City Clerk Megan McKenzie.
Feb. 2 is the candidate-filing deadline for the city’s April 2 party primary.
Gibson is seeking his second four-year term as mayor. If reelected, he would be the first Natchez mayor to win a second consecutive term since Butch Brown did in 1996. Four incumbent Natchez mayors have subsequently been voted out of office and two chose not to run for another term.
Davis, seeking his third term on the Board of Aldermen, is being challenged by Jamar White to represent the ward that covers northeast parts of Natchez. The district is bordered by Seargent Prentiss Drive and Liberty Road and extends out to areas on each side of U.S. 61 north to the city limits. Ward 5’s polling place is the Adams County Safe Room on Liberty Road.
Alderman Valencia Hall is seeking her second term representing Ward 1. It covers Natchez’ western sector from the Cemetery Road area on the north end of town into Natchez’ central business district and residential areas and southward along the western side of Lower Woodville Road to parts of Highland Boulevard. Ward 1’s polling place is the Natchez City Council Chambers on Pearl Street. Hall defeated long-serving alderman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis in 2020.
Ward 2 Alderman Billie Joe Frazier is seeking his third term. His ward covers parts of north Natchez extending to central parts threaded in the middle by north Martin Luther King Street and also taking neighborhoods in the Old Pond, Shields Lane and Linden areas by Liberty Road. The old Frazier elementary school on George West Boulevard is Ward 2’s polling place.
Alderman Sarah Carter Smith represents Ward 3 and is seeking her fourth term as the Board of Alderman’s longest-serving member. Her south Natchez ward is centered by John R. Junkin Drive to include neighborhoods such as Glenwood to intersect with Seargent Prentiss Drive past Merit Health hospital and Jeff Davis Boulevard areas to extend on U.S. 61 south by The Hills and Woodhaven neighborhoods. Its polling place is the former Trinity school campus on U.S. 61 south where Cornerstone Church is now located.
Alderman Felicia Irving is running for a third term representing Ward 4. Her central city constituency has St. Catherine and Jefferson streets in the middle and reaches out to encompass blocks on both sides of Main Street to Commerce and then spreads to Homochitto and Auburn streets. Ward 4’s voting precinct is Christian Hope Baptist Church on LaSalle Street.
Alderman Curtis Moroney is running for reelection in Ward 6. It covers the city’s south midtown area that goes from the end of South Union eastward along Homochitto Street’s south side to expand out to the Duncan Park and Melrose Avenue areas and reach southward to include neighborhoods in and around the Montebello, Mansfield and Espero areas. The old Canteen building in Duncan Park is Ward 6’s election day polling place.
Moroney was elected last May in a special election to replace Dan Dillard, who died in March.
The candidates for mayor and aldermen have filed as Democrats with the exception of Moroney, who’s listed as an independent but has not yet submitted his filing forms with the city clerk as of this morning.
Candidates wanting to run for city offices have until 5 p.m. Feb. 2 to file their qualification documents at the city clerk’s office at the Municipal Building on Pearl Street.
The April 2 party primary will be followed by April 23 runoffs if needed. The June 4 general election will have the party primary winners and independents on the ballot to officially determine who takes office for the 2024-2028 term that starts next July.
Natchez is about 64 percent Black and 34 percent White, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. The Board of Aldermen has four Black members and two White members. The city had a population of 14,500 in 2020 – a decline of nearly 1,300 from 2010.
A map of the Natchez election wards can be seen on the city’s website: www.natchez.ms.us/DocumentCenter/View/1290/MAP-NATCHEZ-PROPOSED-WARD-PLAN-SEP12_22
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