University of Mississippi associate professor of sociology and international studies Miguel Centellas has officially entered the race for Board of Aldermen, running to represent Ward VI. Centellas, a Democrat and Oxford resident since 2015, will face incumbent Republican Jason Bailey for the seat.
Centellas joins Afton Thomas as the second university employee to enter the race for a seat on the Board of Aldermen. Thomas is running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Mark Huelse to represent Ward II.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Centellas said he decided to run for the position when the Lafayette County Democratic Party approached him about doing so. He said that although he made the decision to run for office suddenly, he takes it very seriously and felt it was his duty to serve his community.
“I live in the Woodlawn neighborhood. I’ve seen what a commitment to building community can look like at its best,” Centellas wrote. “On our neighborhood Facebook page, we help each other find lost pets and lost packages. We help each other find and support local businesses…We do all this for each other without concern for creed or religion or partisanship.”
Centellas added that he wants to hear the needs of as many people in the community as he can during his campaign leading up to the June 8 election.
“In a city as diverse as Oxford, we won’t always agree on every issue,” Centellas said. “But I trust we all have our community’s best interest at heart. I hope to represent the values of community, compassion and civility that define the best virtues of citizenship.”
Jason Bailey, Centellas’s opponent, has been in office since winning a special election in 2012. Bailey won a 2017 election as well, defeating Democratic challenger Wayne Andrews with 62% of the vote.
Centellas’s addition to the race is one of several changes in recent days. Three candidates have already dropped out of the race after Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch issued an opinion on Monday, Feb. 1 that said candidates running for ward offices in city government must have lived in the ward in which they are running to represent for at least two years.
Thus far, D. Ryan Grover in Ward III and Erin Smith and Harry A. Alexander in Ward I are the only candidates who have dropped out of the election.
Ward III Alderman Janice Antonow will not seek reelection.
Former Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal CEO Billy Crews is running as a Democrat in Ward I against incumbent Rick Addy. Initially, Addy said he would not run for reelection but reversed course on Feb. 5.
Democrats Brian Hyneman and Alexandria White will compete in a primary, and the winner will face Republican L. McQueen Miscamble to represent Ward III. Hyneman is chairman of the Oxford Planning Commission, and White is the former interim director of the Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement and former director of Ole Miss International. Miscamble is the owner of Crossroads Animal Hospital.
Tracy L. Williams and John Boyd will face incumbent Ward V Alderman Preston Taylor in a Democratic primary. Incumbent Kesha Howell-Atkinson is also running unopposed in Ward VI.
Incumbent Mayor Robyn Tannehill is seeking reelection as an independent and will face 18-year-old challenger Brandon Pettis.
Primaries will take place on April 6, and general elections will occur on June 8.
