Incumbent Craig Pope holds big lead against controversial challenger

Polk County Commissioner Craig Pope has a large lead in his bid to hold onto the position he’s held for 11 years.

Pope is leading challenger Mickey Garus by a 3-2 margin in initial returns for the non-partisan position. If he earns over 50% of the vote, he wins re-election without going to the general election.

Pope has held the position since 2011, when he was appointed to the commission. He won elections for the position in 2014 and 2018.

Garus is the controversial former Dallas city councilor who came under fire in 2015 making statements on social media about the Islamic faith, calling it “pure evil” and saying Muslims pose a “grave threat to our culture, country and race.” He also threatened transgender students if they used a girl’s bathroom.

Commissioner Jeremy Gordon, who was appointed to his commissioner position in 2021, was running unopposed and had 15,021 votes.

In Marion County’s partisan county commissioner races, incumbent Republicans had more votes than the Democratic challengers in the uncontested primaries.

Kevin Cameron, who has held his position since 2014 and been elected to the position in 2014 and 2018, received 19,526 votes through Thursday’s returns. Democratic challenger Andrew Dennis had 15,651 votes.

Colm Willis, who was elected to the position in 2018, has 19,520 votes while challenger Mark Wigg has 16,254 votes.

Cameron will face off against Dennis in the Nov. 8 general election, while Willis will face off with Wigg.

Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him atbpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com