NATCHEZ — Seven Adams County residents will be vying for the county court judge seat in the Nov. 4 election.

Walt Brown, Lamar Bullen, Kevin Colbert, Patricia Dunmore, Brandi Lewis, Scott Pintard and Scott Slover qualified to run for Adams County Court judge. Qualifying ended Friday.

Brown is an assistant district attorney for District 6, which covers Adams, Amite, Franklin and Wilkinson counties and has been practicing law for 24 years.

Bullen has a private law firm, Bullen Law Office, in Natchez and has been practicing law for 11 years.

Colbert is a public defender in Adams County and has a law office in Natchez.

Dunmore is an Adams County Justice Court judge and has been practicing law for 35 years.

Lewis is a staff attorney for the Adams County Chancery Court.

Pintard has a private practice law firm, Pintard & Pintard, with his father in Natchez and has been practicing law for 19 years.

Slover serves as the attorney for the Adams County Board of Supervisors and has a private firm, Slover & Associates, in Natchez. He has been practicing law for six years.

Judge John Hudson, who as county court judge also oversees Adams County’s youth court, announced Wednesday he would not be running for re-election after more than three decades on the bench because he wants to pursue another opportunity.

Hudson said he is not at liberty to discuss the opportunity at this time, but the timing of election qualification forced him to announce his decision not to run so the local bar had the opportunity to know and qualify for the position.

Only 19 counties in Mississippi have county courts, which were created by the legislature to reduce the workload of circuit and chancery courts. The county court hears matters of eminent domain, unlawful entry and detainer, partition of personal property and youth court.

The county court judge also hears non-capital felony criminal cases the circuit court transfers.