The Jackson County Clerk’s Office has received three new declarations of candidacy for the May 2 Seymour city primary in recent days.
Those filings include incumbent Republican Clerk-Treasurer Darrin Boas, who visited the county voter registration office in Brownstown on Thursday to complete his paperwork to mount a campaign for his second four-year term.
Boas said he enjoys being clerk-treasurer.
“I have learned a lot and I continue to learn a lot, and that’s the fun part of it,” he said. “I feel like I have had an impact on the department heads about being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money.”
The second filing is that of Republican Brad Lucas, who plans to seek the District 5 city council seat presently held by David Earley, an independent who was first elected in 2011.
Lucas said he talked with Earley to see if he planned to run again before making his own decision.
“I would not run against him,” Lucas said of Earley. “I have a lot of respect for him, and he has done a good job.”
Lucas, who is 64 and the city’s fire chief, said he has been thinking about running for public office for many years. He plans to retire as fire chief at the end of this year.
“I’ve always been interested in city government,” he said. “I have been involved with it for 40 years. I have a good understanding of budgets and how things operate. It’s a good fit.”
Earley said it has been fun serving on the city council, but it’s something he had originally intended to do for just eight years.
He filed for a third term after both mayoral candidates in 2019 — Republican Matt Nicholson and Democrat Rexanne Ude — asked him to run because it was going to be an all new council if he was not on it. Nicholson wound up winning the job, and Earley earned the council seat for four more years.
Earley said he has lived in the city his entire life and just wanted to give something back to the community.
The third filing involved incumbent District 4 Councilman Seth Davidson, who also is a Republican completing his first four-year term.
“My original plan was to run for two four-year terms,” he said. “I thought we got a lot of good things accomplished and would like four more years to finish to accomplish some more of what we started.”
On Wednesday, the first day of the filing period, political newcomer Dan Robison filed his declaration of candidacy to seek the Republican Party’s nomination for mayor.
Later that morning, Republican Mayor Matt Nicholson filed his paperwork to run for his second four-year term, which sets up the first race on the ballot.
The filing period ends at noon Feb. 3. For information about filing, visit the voter registration office in the clerk’s office at the Jackson County Judicial Center, 109 S. Sugar St., Brownstown, or call 812-358-6120. Voter registration ends April 3.