More Beaufort County residents have filed since early Monday afternoon as candidates in the 2018 election cycle.

The filing period began at noon Monday and ends at noon Feb. 28. Primaries will be conducted May 8. The general election is Nov. 6.

C. “Chuck” Early Jr., a Washington resident and a Republican, is seeking to represent District 3 in the state Senate. Incumbent Democrat Erica D. Smith is seeking re-election to that seat. Beaufort County, formerly in District 1, is now in District 3, which also includes Martin, Bertie, Warren, Vance and Northampton counties.

Chocowinity resident Keith Kidwell, a Republican and former chairman of the Beaufort County Republican Party, is seeking to represent District 79 in the state House. Another Beaufort County resident, Jerry Langley, a Democrat and a county commissioner, is seeking that seat. District 79 includes all of Beaufort County and part of Craven County.

Incumbent Beaufort County Board of Education members Terry Williams, District 4; and E.C. Peed, District 2; and Butch Oliver, District 8, are seeking re-election.

Incumbent Sheriff Ernie Coleman is seeking re-election. Democrat Petre E. Franks is seeking to that office.

Joining Republican Tandy Dunn and Democrat Randy Walker in contest for the three Beaufort County Board of Commissioners seats available this election cycle are incumbents Frankie Waters, a Republican, and Ed Booth, a Democrat.

Marty Paramore, the incumbent clerk of Beaufort County Superior Court and a Democrat, is seeking re-election.

Seth Edwards, incumbent district attorney for the 2^nd Judicial District, is seeking re-election.

In Beaufort County, voters will mark ballots for candidates seeking to represent District 3 in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Philip Joseph Law, a Republican, is seeking to represent the 3^rd District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives now held by fellow Republican Walter B. Jones Jr. T. Lee Horne III also filed as a candidate for that seat.

Two seats on the three-member Beaufort County Soil and Water Conservation Board are available this election cycle. The filing period for the election runs from June 11 to July 6.

Last week, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an order that candidates for N.C. Supreme Court and N.C. Court of Appeals will not file for election during the February filing period. Under that order, primaries will not be held for judicial offices in 2018. The court overturned a lower court’s order that had set the filing period for appellate-court candidates during the February filing period.

Barring any further action by the courts, those candidates will file during a special judicial filing period June 18-29.

The filing period for superior and district court candidates begins at noon June 18 and ends at noon June 29. This year, judicial candidates may file as unaffiliated without having to qualify through the petition process.

The Superior Court (2^nd Judicial District) seat held by Judge Wayland Sermons Jr. is available this election cycle, as are two of the four District Court judgeships in the 2^nd Judicial District. Superior Court judges serve eight-year terms. District Court judges serve four-year terms.