An official with the Kanawha County Republican Party will challenge Kanawha County Commissioner Dave Hardy in this year's election.
Lance Wheeler is vice chairman of the Kanawha County GOP. He ran for the state Senate in 2014, losing to Tom Takubo in the Republican primary with around 32 percent of the vote.
Hardy has been on the county commission for 15 years. He was originally appointed in 2001, when he was on Charleston City Council, and was re-elected in 2002, 2004 and 2010.
Hardy appears to be the only incumbent being challenged on the ballot. Although Saturday was the deadline for candidates to file for the 2016 election, any application dropped in the U.S. mail and postmarked Saturday or earlier can still be accepted.
County Clerk Vera McCormick, Assessor Sallie Robinson-McKnight, County Clerk Cathy Gatson and Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Miller are all running unopposed.
Assistant Kanawha prosecutor Fred Giggenbach has filed to run for circuit court judge in Greenbrier County, where he grew up.
Mike Rutherford faces David "Dave" Tucker in the race to regain the Kanawha sheriff's position. Rutherford was sheriff from 2004 to 2012, but under West Virginia law, sheriffs can't serve three consecutive terms. Rutherford's brother, John Rutherford, is the current Kanawha sheriff, with Mike Rutherford serving as chief deputy. Tucker, a Democrat, was first elected sheriff in 1996 and re-elected in 2000.
Rutherford, Gatson and Robinson-McKnight are Democrats; McCormick and Miller are Republicans.
In the Kanawha Board of Education race, two seats are open. Incumbent Jim Crawford is running against Ric Cavender, the executive director of Charleston Main Streets, Adam Knauff, a former Charleston City Council member who lost his re-election race last year, and Bill Carpenter. Board President Robin Rector opted not to run again.
Kanawha County's seven circuit judges - Jennifer Bailey, Duke Bloom, Tod Kaufman, Charles King, James Stucky, Joanna Tabit and Carrie Webster - are running for re-election and face no opposition.
Kanawha Family Court Judges Rob Montgomery, Kenneth Ballard and Joe Zak are running again and have no opponents on the ballot. Judge Sharon Mullens is being challenged by Charleston lawyer Jim Douglas. Judge Mark Snyder did not run again, and Charleston lawyer Lera VanMeter is the only candidate running to replace him.
All 10 Kanawha magistrates are running for re-election. Four of them - Traci Strickland, Jack Pauley, Joe Shelton and Pete Lopez - have no opposition on the ballot. Brent Hall is being challenged by former magistrate Marva Lee Crouch and Dunbar resident Kathy Ferguson; Pam Nixon is challenging Mike Sisson; Ward Harshbarger is running against Charleston residents Cecelia Thomas and Rusty Casto; Kim Aaron is being challenged by Todd Chevalier; Julie Yeager is being challenged by Melanie Rucker; and Tim Halloran is being challenged by Cross Lanes resident Dianna Graves, along with Margaret Chico-Eddy, Steve Harper and Paris Workman.
For the first time, all judicial races in West Virginia will be non-partisan - meaning judge and magistrate candidates won't be identified by political party - in 2016.
In Putnam County, only one Democrat filed to run for a major county office. That's Mark Whitt, who's running for county commissioner. He will face one of three Republicans - Ronald Reagan Foster, Dusty Hurley or Joseph Tyree - in November's general election. The winner will replace Commissioner Joe Haynes, who is not running for re-election.
Prosecuting Attorney Mark Sorsaia, County Clerk Brian Wood, Circuit Clerk Ronnie Matthews, Sheriff Steve Deweese and Assessor Sherry Hayes filed to run again. All are Republicans.
Four people filed to run for two Putnam Board of Education seats: incumbents Sam Sentelle and Jack Coyner; longtime Poca High coach and trainer Bruce Knell; and Diana McCallister, who ran unsuccessfully for the school board in 2014.
Putnam Circuit Judges Philip Stowers and Joe Reeder, Family Court Judge Rick Witt and Magistrates Linda Hunt and Kylene Dunlap Brown all filed for re-election and have no opponents on the ballot.
Three people are running for an open magistrate spot: Jean Anne Luikart, a clerk in the Kanawha County magistrates' office; Hurricane resident Earl Gorrell; and Hurricane resident Troy Sexton. Sexton, who has served time in jail for domestic battery, been charged with DUI and been banned from the Cincinnati Reds' baseball stadium, was the focus of an outburst by former Putnam magistrate Scot Lawrence last August that eventually prompted Lawrence to resign his seat. Ronald Stone is also running for an unexpired magistrate seat.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter. Reach Laura Haight at laura.haight@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @laurahaight_ on Twitter.