After declaring his candidacy for an unprecedented fourth term, Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney abruptly ended his bid Wednesday morning.
According to Victoria Adkins, Election Deputy with the Whitley County Clerk’s Office, McBurney officially withdrew his name from the ballot at about 10:00 a.m.
“He said he’d actually decided last year he was not going to run, but that he had let some people talk him into it,” Adkins said. “He just really felt like he didn’t want to run in the first place.””
The filing deadline for political candidates is Jan. 30 at 4:00 p.m. Adkins said with McBurney in the race, there was going to be a need for a primary election to determine which two candidates would move on to the General Election.
Tri-County Cineplex owner, and former two-term city commissioner, Suzie Razmus, filed as a mayoral candidate last week. Shannon T. Hall is the other candidate remaining in the race.
Adkins said McBurney made the decision to withdraw early enough that his name would not appear on the ballot. He was first elected in 2006 by an overwhelming margin. At the end of this year he will have served 12 years in the office, making him the longest serving mayor in the history of Corbin.
