The seven men running for the position of McClain County commissioner in Tuesday’s primary have known each other for decades.

“Most of them I went to school with and I know them all real well,” candidate Andy Madden said.

The race is so crowded because the election is wide open. The former district 2 commissioner, Loyd Tucker, 67, died while at work March 11. His foreman, David Perry, took over for him in the final months of Tucker’s term.

Perry, of Purcell, has thrown his hat in the ring for election, but will have to beat out fellow Democrats Bryan Jenkins of Goldsby, Madden of Purcell and Ronnie Little of Washington in the primary election Tuesday.

The Republican candidate also will be decided in the primary. Republicans Jerry England of Dibble, Wilson Lyles of Goldsby and Kent Smith of Washington are running.

The race so far has been cordial, commissioner candidates said. Perry said he got a personal call from each one before they filed for candidacy.

“They all called and asked me what I thought and I said, ‘Guys, the way I look at this is we’re all applying for a job and you’re all friends of mine and we’re going to be friends when this is over,’” Perry said.

Little said citizens were often surprised by how friendly the candidates are with one another.

“At meetings we all walk in as a group and we sit as a group, and I think that throws the voters off because they’re expecting stares and glares,” Little said.

But the candidates still are running on the grounds that they are better than the others for the job.

Perry, 51, said he has the experience to do a good job. He worked for the county 17 years. He worked through four disasters while he was road foreman.

“I had an ice storm and three floods and I worked on one with FEMA on how to get federal money, so I feel that’s why I’m more qualified,” Perry said. “I’ve been there. … There’s more to being a county commissioner than just roads. You have to find funding.”

He said he is looking into grants to help develop the area.

“We need to fill out every grant that we can get,” he said. “…Our road budget’s not very good, so we got to go out and find help elsewhere.”

He said he also is trying to bring in some factories to some county-owned property near Wayne to help the county economically.

Jenkins, 46, agreed that economic growth is important. He said he is running for commissioner because he wants to keep the county up to speed with the growth it’s been experiencing. He’s worked in Cleveland County as a maintenance supervisor for 21 years, but has lived in McClain County for 35 years.

He said he hopes to first of all improve the roadways for the school bus routes.

Jenkins said he would bring to the position “new and better ideas to manage our money and manage our labor and to look for maybe different ideas, new technologies to build and maintain roads.”

Madden, 49, also focused his campaign on the improvement of roads and bridges in the county. He owns Andy and Sons Service, a construction, road building and dirt work company. He said he is the only candidate with such hands-on experience running road construction equipment.

Little, 56, said his business experience of 32 years will help him as a county commissioner. He is the major stock owner and president of the board of Thomas Seed Co.

He said he has “the business experience to take the county further and if there’s an economic downturn I think I have the experience to lead the county through.” Little also was one of the co-organizers of the Washington Volunteer Fire Department.

England, 52, also emphasized his business experience; He’s been in business for himself for 35 years, is a farmer and owns his own trucking company.

“Everybody seems to think that you have to be a road builder to be in the county commissioner’s job,” he said.

England said that contrary to what most people think, the county commissioner position is not only about building roads and bridges. The commissioner’s job also is to manage the county’s money and run the county like a business.

“There’s just a lot more to it than knowing how to build a road,” England said.

Lyles, 48, said he has a lot of applicable business experience too. He has been involved in warehousing transportation distribution for 20 years, which is a customer satisfaction business.

“The position (of commissioner) interested me because I think that there are challenges out there and I just love to interact with people and resolve issues and problems,” Lyles said.

There are four things that Lyles said he lives by in his business and will bring to the commissioner position: “being efficient, being productive, knowing your priorities and just making good business decisions.”

Smith, 49, said he’s running for county commissioner because he wants to cut government waste.

“I just see a need for change and I wanted to improve the efficiency of the county government,” he said. He owns Sid’s Easy Shop, a convenience store in Washington.