Rankin County, Miss. (WJTV) — Jim Giles, Morris Mock, Bob Morrow, and Fred Shanks hope to fill the empty District 60 seat. The special election is set for February 20th.

The winner will fill the position left vacant when Rep. John Moore retired in December.

“John Moore was not representing the people,” says District 60 candidate Jim Files. “The legislature, there’s not one single representative down there. They’re all crooks.”

Giles has unsuccessfully run for office in the past. He runs a dairy and honey farm near Pearl.

Giles says he would disrupt legislative proceedings as much as possible if elected, “Form what I would call a rebel caucus to attract rebels like myself who would go the legislature and remove the current leadership and regain control.”

At Brandon Discount Drugs, Fred Shanks takes a break, “Support’s been great. I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback.”

Shanks has worked at the drug store for years, run two businesses in downtown Brandon, and serves as a reserve Brandon police officer.

Shanks seemed uncertain about problems in the district, but he knows what works, “Rankin County is strong. The schools are good. The economy is good. I aim to keep it that way. They’ve afforded me a lot of good opportunities.”

“I have an 8-year-old daughter. I have a 23-year-old daughter.  Both are products of the public school system,” says candidate Morris Mock. “What they’re doing, I think education needs to be fully funded. In order to make change you have to be the change.”

Mock works at Nissan and his focus, if elected, would be on better education.

“I feel that a good education is what’s going to cure our poverty problem,” says Mock. “And I think just trying to create what Tennessee did, free junior college tuition programs.”

While Mock focuses on education, economic development has Bob Morrow’s attention, “That’s key to growth. We have several highways around in district 60 that need attention.”

Morrow has experience on his side. He’s worked in real estate and currently serves as a Rankin County Supervisor.

“Growth in the county is a wonderful thing,” says Morrow. “But we need to continue to expand the infrastructure and roads, create an East bypass to facilitate development here at East Brandon. That would probably be my priority at this point in time.”

Because this is a special election, all candidates are running as Independent. Polls are open Tuesday from 7 AM to 7 PM.