Candidates set for Copperas Cove city council, CCISD elections   

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

A total of nine candidates have filed for six positions that will appear on Copperas Cove's Nov. 8 general election ballot.

Three positions on the Copperas Cove city council and three positions on the Copperas Cove Independent School District board of trustees are up for election.

Several of the races have newcomers in the running for office.

A last-day filing by one candidate on Monday turned the Place 4 Copperas Cove city race into a contested race.

Until Monday, John Hale was the lone filer for the office, but Edith Natividad also filed to run for Place 4. The winner in November will fill the place currently occupied by Jay Manning.

Manning has served two terms and cannot run for a third term for that position.

In the race for Place 5 on the Copperas Cove city council, incumbent Dianne Campbell faces challenger Manuel “Monty” Montanez. Campbell is in her first term of office.

For city council Place 3, incumbent Shawn Alzona is the lone filer for that office.

Alzona is finishing up a term which had a vacancy when Dan Yancey won the Copperas Cove mayoral election in November 2021.

With no one else filing to run and being unopposed, Alzona will get to serve his first full three-year term of office starting in November, which ends in November 2025.

Over on the CCISD board of trustees, longtime incumbents Joan Manning (Place 4) and Mike Wilburn (Place 3) are running unopposed, and like Alzona, will get to serve a three-year term.

Manning was first elected in 1995 and Wilburn was first elected to office in 2007.

For Place 5 on the board of trustees, Heather Copeland filed to run for that position. The current Place 5 incumbent is Jeff Gorres, who is in his first term of office.

The last day to file as a write-in candidate is Friday, Aug. 26.

The last day to register to vote in the November election is Tuesday, Oct. 11.

Early voting for the Nov. 8 election will begin on Monday, Oct. 24.