Trio qualifies for Nov. 8 judicial race

A trio of candidates will now have their names on Franklin County’s Tuesday, Nov. 8 general election ballot to fill the seat currently held by Sixth District Circuit Court Post 1 Judge Lillie Blackmon Sanders.

Sanders, who has been on the bench since 1989, formally withdrew her name from contention for re-election to the position on Tuesday, July 19 and had been the only candidate to initially qualify to seek that judicial post serving Franklin, Adams, Amite and Wilkinson counties.
On Tuesday, July 26, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves extended the qualifying deadline for the seat through 5 p.m., Friday, Aug. 5, and three candidates filed their intentions with the State Board of Election Commissioners to run in the non-partisan race — Lydia Roberta Blackmon, Carmen Brooks Drake and Scott. J. Pintard.

The trio of candidates are all currently practicing attorneys in Natchez with Blackmon admitted to the Mississippi Bar in September, 1990; Drake in September, 1997; and Pintard in April, 1995.
Sanders received an undergraduate degree from Alcorn State University and her juris doctorate from the University of Mississippi.
Prior to her time on the Sixth District Circuit Court bench, Sanders served as Fayette’s municipal court judge and Adams County’s youth court public defender. She was also an attorney for the Mississippi Department of Human Services and Southwest Mississippi Legal Services Corp.

Debra W. Blackwell, who presently serves as the Post 2 judge for the Sixth District Circuit Court, has qualified to seek re-election to that seat this fall.

She will reportedly face off against Natchez attorneys Timothy David Blalock and Eileen M. Maher in the Nov. 8 general election, according to filings documentation provided by Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson’s office.