The first week of filing for elective offices was moderately busy in Beaufort County.
The state’s official sign-up period for candidates began Monday and will end Feb. 29.
A former Beaufort County commissioner signed up to run for a seat on the county board.
Mickey Cochran is the second Democrat to go after one of the four seats available on the board.
The other announced Democrat, incumbent Jerry Langley, hadn’t filed as of Friday. Langley has confirmed he will pursue re-election.
To date, four Republican commissioner candidates have filed: incumbent Hood Richardson of Washington, Tony Keech of the Washington area, incumbent Jay McRoy of Chocowinity and Donald Dixon of Washington.
Another Republican, Blount’s Creek resident Larry Britt, has said he plans to get into the race.
If Britt filed, the GOP hopefuls would face off in the primary election on May 8.
Republican and unaffiliated voters eligible to vote in the primary would select four winners of that contest. The winners would advance to the Nov. 6 general election.
Also filing this week were Republicans Bill Cook, of the Cypress Landing community, and Jerry Evans, of Washington.
Cook and Evans are vying for the GOP nomination in state Senate District 1, which includes Beaufort County. Cook, a state representative, gave up his re-election campaign to run for Senate.
Cook and Evans will confront each other in the primary. The winner is likely to go head to head with incumbent Sen. Stan White, D-Dare, in November.
Democrat Robert Cayton of Aurora and Republican Wayne Langston of Chocowinity filed in House District 3, which takes in parts of Beaufort County.
Langston will have to meet Craven County resident Michael Speciale in the District 3 GOP primary.
Former state Rep. Arthur Williams of Washington signed paperwork establishing his candidacy for House District 6, which also covers Beaufort County.
Mattie Lawson, a Republican from Dare County, has said she will file in District 6, giving Williams a primary challenger.
Jennifer Leggett Whitehurst, the county’s incumbent register of deeds, filed for re-election. A Washington resident, Whitehurst usually runs unopposed.
Filing to run for Beaufort County Board of Education were District 1 incumbent Eltha Booth of Washington, District 5 hopeful Proctor Kidwell of the Washington area, District 7 competitors Bill Sprenkle and Carolyn Walker of the Washington area and District 9 incumbent Mike Isbell of Washington.
For more on filing, see future editions of the Daily News.