Update: Gulfport resident disqualified from special election wins right to run in general
Derek Bullock lost his appeal to run in a special election for the Ward 5 City Council seat, leaving three candidates in the race.
But he will have a second shot at the seat after the city’s Republican Municipal Executive Committee qualified him Thursday night as a Ward 5 candidate for regular municipal elections this spring.
After a hearing Tuesday morning, the Gulfport Municipal Election Commission upheld its recent decision to disqualify Bullock from the special election. He was disqualified because he didn’t live in Ward 5 for two years before the Feb. 18 special election date, as the law requires.
The city’s election commission runs special elections, while party executive committees run primaries for the general election.
The executive committee ruled after a hearing Thursday that Bullock is a qualified resident of Ward 5, saying it was not his fault that the city shifted ward lines shortly after he moved in August 2023, putting his home in Ward 5. The city was supposed to adjust the ward lines in 2021 to reflect population changes after the U.S. Census was updated.
The nonpartisan special election is being held Tuesday to fill the unexpired term of Councilman Myles Sharp, who recently resigned.
Both Bullock and his attorney, Malcolm Jones of Pass Christian, argued that Bullock qualified to run. They say special circumstances exist because the city belatedly redrew ward lines that went into effect in September 2023.
“The Constitution trumps everything,” Jones said. “The right for a candidate to get on a ballot is highly protected by the Constitution.”
Candidate argues for special election slot
Bullock argued Tuesday that he should be qualified for the special election, saying he was “a victim of circumstance.”
He added, “To deny me being a candidate for this ward is denying me my constitutional rights and also the voters’ rights to a free and fair election.”
But the city’s five-member election commission disagreed. They voted unanimously to uphold Bullock’s disqualification.
“We are not here to disqualify anyone,” commission chairman Ferrell Alman said. “We are just here to make sure the rules are followed when we do qualify someone.”
Candidates qualified by the commission for Tuesday’s election are real estate broker and firm owner Holly Gibbs, retired registered nurse Don Harden, and longtime city Planning Commission member BJ Sellers, a paving company general manager.
Bullock will face those same candidates in the Republican primary in April. The winner will run against Democrat Craig Elliott Raybon in the June 3 general election.
Jones said he doesn’t believe the temporary incumbent will have served long enough to enjoy a big advantage in April’s Republican primary. State law requires a special election because Sharp resigned more than six months before his term expired.
Special-election candidate Sellers challenged Bullock’s right to run in the Republican primary.
If Bullock had moved after the ward lines changed, the Republican election committee’s decision probably would have been different, chairman John McCay said.
The committee decided the residency requirement in Bullock’s favor, McCay said, because “the ward lines changed around him.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 11:11 AM.
