CHRISTIANSBURG — A third candidate has entered this year’s race for the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors District E seat.
Lonnie Linkous, who owns the Christianburg-based Redline Tire and Lube, said this past week that he plans to run as a Republican for the seat that has been occupied by fellow Republican Darrell Sheppard since 2016.
“For me personally, it’s just the right time,” he said. “I just want to give voters of District E a choice.”
Linkous, 49, said he also hopes to fill a void that will be left by Chris Tuck, a Republican and the District B supervisor who doesn’t plan to seek re-election this year.
“I really, really appreciate Chris’ service,” Linkous said.
Linkous acknowledged sharing a political party with Sheppard and the fact that the District E incumbent has often voted along the sames lines as Tuck. Linkous, however, said he has found Sheppard, a retired Virginia Tech cop and current school bus driver, to not have been vocal enough in his tenure as a supervisor.
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With Montgomery County being one of the most rapidly growing municipalities in Virginia, the locality needs strong planning to deal with and make the best out of the growth, Linkous said.
Linkous shares a last name with Larry Linkous, who served on the board as a Republican from 1991 to 1995. Lonnie Linkous said he believes he’s a distant relative of the former supervisor, but that he’s not sure about the exact relation.
The other candidate so far for District E is Democrat Robbie Jones, the head custodian at Christiansburg Middle School and one of two board of supervisors hopefuls this year backed by the Democrat-leaning political action committee Vote Local.
Vote Local, which has so far raised $13,761, was officially formed in December with the hopes of lifting Democrats to victory in the districts E and B races and ultimately swinging control of the board back to the Democrats.
District E is the more competitive of the two Republican-occupied seats up for re-election this year, based on past election results.
Republicans have dominated District B — an area that covers central Montgomery County and a portion of Christiansburg — since the start of the 21st century. In addition to Tuck’s 2011 election and 2015 re-election, former Republican Supervisor Doug Marrs ran unopposed in 2003 and 2007.
On the other hand, Sheppard’s predecessor is Bill Brown, the former Democratic chairman of the board. Sheppard was also less dominant than Tuck in their 2015 victories.
District E covers northwest Montgomery County, but includes a portion of Blacksburg, which historically has been a Democratic stronghold.
Sheppard couldn’t be reached to comment for this story.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Jones said about the early signs of competition. “They probably feel the same way I do … It shows that more people care about their community.”
Jones said she decided to run out a view that the county is not “progressing as it should,” especially in light of the locality’s rapid growth. She has called for improvements in areas such as social services and libraries, which she said need more staff to handle the growing community.
Other board seats up for re-election this year are districts F and G held, respectively, by Supervisor Mary Biggs and board Vice Chairwoman April DeMotts. Both Democrats plan to run and no one so far has announced plans to challenge either.
Districts F and G cover significant chunks of Blacksburg.