With the Christmas holidays in full swing, filing for local political offices in Albany and Clinton County has slowed dramatically over the past couple of weeks.

During the past week, through Monday, December 13, only one candidate had declared intent to seek office.

Fifth District Magistrate Jerry Lowhorn, Republican incumbent of that district comprised of the Illwill and Speck precincts, was the lone person to file over a seven-day period.

Also, after the first week that filing began, when two people filed, no other candidates have thus far filed for city-wide seats that include Albany Mayor and seats on the Albany City Council. However, those non-partisan candidates have until early June of next year to declare their candidacy.

The total number of local candidates only–including city and county–now total 36, all being Republicans, with the exception of city candidates, who run on a non-partisan basis.

Also, 35 of the candidates thus far are men, with only one female candidate to date.

Some 11 incumbents (not counting Constables) have filed for reelection, with a couple of incumbents indicating they will not be seeking another term in 2022.

As of Monday of this week, six candidates for county-wide or district-wide offices were yet unopposed, again, not counting the city candidates who have a later filing deadline.

A total of 14 persons are seeking one of the six magisterial seats that make up the Clinton County Fiscal Court, with three of the six districts each having three candidates thus far.

With the primary election filing deadline for local office just over three weeks away, there were still no candidates for Constable in Districts 1, 2 and 3, none for the two Board of Education seats in Districts 1 and 5, nor for the three board seats that make up the Soil Conservation District Board.

The filing deadline for the May primary is Friday, January 7, at 4 p.m.

It should be noted that the numbers in this article reflect local races only and does not include all races that will appear on next May’s ballot.

Various judicial, state and federal races will also be on the ballot, with judicial candidates running non-partisan.

An update on all races will again be published in an upcoming issue.