VALDOSTA, GA – In a surprising turn of events Thursday, longtime Republican state representative Ellis Black withdrew his qualifying paperwork to return to the Georgia House of Representatives in District 174 and qualified to run for the Senate seat in District 8 which is being vacated by the retiring Tim Golden.

Also on Thursday, Lowndes County commissioner Crawford Powell qualified in Atlanta to run as a Republican for Black’s seat in the House. On Monday, Powell qualified at the Lowndes County Board of Elections to run for re-election in District 3 but that changed Thursday when he qualified for the House seat.

The stunning switches are part of what has been a busy qualifying week which began when Golden announced in an e-mail on Sunday that he would not run for re-election after 16 years in the Georgia Senate. Lowndes County Commissioner Richard Raines, who had previously announced that he would not run for re-election on the commission, qualified Monday as a Republican for Golden’s seat. District 8 stretches from the eastern portion of Thomas County and includes all of Lowndes, Brooks, Cook, Lanier, Echols and Clinch counties.

On Thursday, Bikram Mohanty also qualified for the District 8 Senate seat and will run as a Democrat. Mohanty unsuccessfully challenged Golden for the post two years ago.

Black, a former Chairman of the Lowndes County Board of Education, has been a member of the Georgia House of Representatives since 2001. His House District 174 covers the southern portion of Lowndes County, all of Echols and Clinch counties and portions of Ware, Charlton and Camden counties, some of the same area covered by the Senate District 8 seat.

Powell was elected to the Lowndes County Commission in District 3 in 2010 after serving as the chairman of the Valdosta-Lowndes Industrial Authority. His withdrawal from the commission race leaves businessman Mark Wisenbaker as the only qualified candidate for that position as of Thursday afternoon. Wisenbaker is running as a Republican.

Qualifying for both state and local races ends at noon Friday.