By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

Candidates for Fayette County elective offices are featured in a special section starting on Page 8A in today's edition of The Citizen.

Twenty-five candidates are vying either for offices that will be decided in the July 18 General Primary, or are in contested races for their parties' nominations in the primary.

The Citizen sent questionnaires to candidates in all the contested races, and answers are printed in the Election 2000 section. If there is not enough space to include all the candidates' answers, the remainder will be carried in the July 12 edition.

Candidates who did not complete and return their questionnaires will not be included.

Each candidate was given up to 250 words to answer each question, and the same biographical information will be included on each candidate.

Nonpartisan races and those with candidates from only one party will be decided July 18 in the General Primary. Those with both Democrat and Republican candidates — five races — will be decided Nov. 7 in the General Election.

Fourteen incumbents will return to office without opposition, and one vacated seat will be filled without an election — Janet Smola is the only candidate who signed up to run for Board of Education Post 1, which is being voluntarily vacated by board Chairman Debbie Condon.

Nine contested party nominations or nonpartisan local races will be on the ballot July 18: County Commission Post 1 and Post 3, Board of Education Post 2 and Post 3, Magistrate Judge Post 1 and Post 3, a Superior Court judgeship, state Senate District 28, and the 3rd District seat in the U.S. Congress.

Both Democrats and Republicans will have contested party races for Congress.

Democrats will run without opposition for nomination in the County Commission Post 1 and school board Post 3 races, and will face the winners of the Republican nominations in November.

For clerk of Superior Court, one candidate from each major party is running without opposition in July, and the two will face each other in November.

The same is true for state Senate District 34.

Incumbents who will be returned to office without challenge in either party include Sheriff Randall Johnson, Commissioner Herb Frady in Post 2, Superior Court judges Paschal English Jr. and Ben Miller, district attorney Bill McBroom, State Court Judge Fletcher Sams, State Court Solicitor Steven L. Harris, Probate Judge Martha Stephenson, coroner C. J. Mowell Jr., Tax Commissioner George Wingo, post 2 Magistrate Judge Kenneth Melear, Post 4 Magistrate Judge James A. White, 104th District state Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, and 105th District state Rep. Kathy Cox.