Independent Candidate for Kalamazoo County Sheriff Withdraws from Race
Seat on Kalamazoo Valley Community College Board possibly open for write-in campaign
The most recent version of the Kalamazoo County candidate list for the November general election has filing dates as recent as July 23. The independent Sheriff candidate, Phillip Moorlag of Portage, is shown as having withdrawn from the ballot on Monday, July 22. He filed to run for the office on April 26, 2024 and paid the $100 non-refundable filing fee, in lieu of collecting nominating petition signatures. He dissolved his campaign finance committee on Friday, July 26. He reported $2,161.31 in contributions. His largest reported expense was $1,228.01 for t-shirts from The Spirit Shoppe on May 16.
Between his withdrawal and the correction of an incorrectly placed Richland village Trustee candidate, the list now shows only 5 third-party and independent candidates running for partisan office in Kalamazoo County this November. Besides Libertarian candidate for 41st district Michigan House of Representatives Rafael Wolf, the four independent candidates are seeking the following offices:
Charleston Township Clerk (Climax mailing address)
Charleston Township Trustee (Galesburg mailing address)
Prairie Ronde Township Clerk (Schoolcraft mailing address)
Wakeshma Township Clerk (Fulton mailing address)
Tuesday, July 23 was the filing deadline for school board and community college candidates in Michigan. Sixteen candidates filed in Kalamazoo County on that day, including 15 school board candidates. Included in that number are 5 Colon Community Schools Board of Education candidates and 4 Kalamazoo Public Schools Board of Education candidates.
The list shows that there are five candidates for 2 six-year terms on the Kalamazoo Public Schools Board. In addition, there are three candidates for a single 4-year partial term position. In Vicksburg, there are EIGHT candidates for 2 six-year terms on the school board. In Colon, there are six candidates for 2 six-year terms on the school board.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the list shows fewer candidates than open positions on the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Board of Trustees and Parchment School District Board of Education. On the KVCC Board, there are only two candidates for 3 six-year terms: incumbents Sherry Thomas-Cloud of Oshtemo Township and Dawn DeLuca from the city of Kalamazoo. In addition, there are two candidates for a single 4-year partial term: incumbent Kathy Purnell of the city of Kalamazoo and challenger Paul Foust of Richland. Paul is a perennial candidate, as he has previously run or filed for the following offices:
Kalamazoo County Commissioner:
district 14 - Natural Law party - filed: November 11, 2009
district 6 - Republican - filed: August 28, 2013
Richland Village Council Member - filed: November 1, 2010
Gull Lake Schools Board of Education - May 2011 school election - filed: December 28, 2010
Richland Township Trustee - August 3, 2010 Republican primary - filed: November 5, 2011
Kalamazoo Valley Community College Board of Trustees:
filed: March 7, 2014 - November 2014 general election, November 2018 general election, November 2022 general election
filed: June 9, 2023 for November 2024 general election
Richland Township Clerk
Republican - filed: January 27, 2015
U.S. Taxpayers party - filed: December 16, 2019
Republican primary write-in - filed: April 24, 2024 for August 2024 primary election
Michigan House of Representatives, 63rd district - August 2018 Republican primary
Kalamazoo County Clerk - Republican - filed: January 18, 2023
On the Parchment School Board, there is only one candidate for 2 six-year terms. If the county list is correct, there will likely be write-in candidates for the remaining, full-term positions on both KVCC and Parchment boards. Write-in candidates have until Friday, October 25 at 4 p.m. to file their declaration of intent form. Write-in votes for undeclared candidates are not counted.