Update: City Council District 2 is the only post in Social Circle’s municipal elections that will not be challenged

Update 8/23/2019

Social Circle City Councilman Tyson Jackson is the only incumbent in Social Circle who is not facing a challenge in the November Municipal Elections. He qualified for Distric 2 on the Social Circle City Council unchallenged. Incumbent Mayor Hal Dally is facing a challenge from David Keener and District 4 incumbent Councilman Joseph Stevens Shelton is faciing two challengers, John J Perpall, IV and Ann M. Overbeck. For Social Circle City School District 1, incumbent Tonia Lumpkin is facing Michael Atlee O’Conor, Jr, who also qualified, and incumbent Patrick Dally is facing a challenge from Stephen Lee Trantham for School Board District 3.

Update 8:21/2019

Social Circle Mayor Pro Tem David Keener confirmed that he qualified Wednesday morning to challenge Mayor Hal Dally for his seat in the Nov. 5 elections. Keener has resigned from his seat on the City Council.

“The Georgia Constitution under the resign-to-run segment required my seat to be vacated upon qualifying for another position. So when I qualified this morning, I resigned my seat,” he said, adding “The seat will remain vacant until a special election in March 2020.”

Update 8/20/2019

Incumbent Mayor Hal Dally for Mayor and incumbent City Council Members Tyson Jackson for District 2 and Joseph Steve Shelton for District 4 had qualified for the Nov. 5 election for their seats on the City Council by noon on Tuesday. Nobody had qualified for District 1 on the Social City School Board and the incumbent and one challenger had thrown their hat in the ring for District 3.

Mayor

Hal W. Dally (i)

David L. Keener

District 2

Tyson Jackson (i)

District 4

Joseph Steve Shelton (i)

John J. Perpall, IV

Ann M. Overbeck

School Board District 1

Tonia Lumpkin (i)

Michael Atlee O’Conor, Jr.

School 3

Patrick Dally (i)

Stephen Lee Trantham

Initial Story

The Social Circle Mayor and Council Member seats for District 2 and 4 are up for election on Nov. 5, 2019 as well as Social Circle City School Board members District 1 and 3. Anyone wishing to run for any of these posts have this week to qualify in the office of the City Clerk at 166 N Cherokee Road in Social Circle. The times to do so will be during office hours between 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 19 and ending at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 23. The cost to qualify is $180 for mayor, $144 for city council and $18 for school board member. These qualifying fees are non-refundable.

The incumbent school board members are District 1 Tonia Lumpkin and District 3 Patrick Dally.

Incumbent Mayor Hal Dally and District 2 City Councilman Tyson Jackson have stated their intent to run for re-election but it is not known whether District 4 Councilman Steve Shelton will do so. His family suffered a tragedy in the loss of his 23-year-old son in a motorcycle accident this past weekend and therefore has not been contacted on this issue at this time.

District 3 City Councilman David Keener has flirted with the idea of challenging Dally for the position of mayor but has not yet confirmed whether or not he will do so.

“I will make that decision this week,” Keener said when asked this weekend. He has until Friday to do so. If he decides to throw his hat in the ring, he will also have to decide whether to resign from his seat on the council in order to avoid forcing a special election should he win. He would be halfway through his third term as Social Circle City Council District 3 seat is not up for election until 2021.