Former Chestatee High School Principal Bill Thompson is taking a shot at politics.

Thompson qualified with the local Republican Party to run for the Hall County Board of Education's at-large post Tuesday, a post held by Richard Higgins for 12 years.

Higgins, the current board chairman, also qualified with the Hall County Republican Party Tuesday. Higgins owns a local trucking logistics company and his wife, Connie, teaches in the county school system.

Thompson, 60, worked full-time in the Hall County school system from 1977 to 2009, according to earlier reports in The Times. He was at Johnson High School for 21 years and then moved to Chestatee High shortly after it opened.

Thompson could not immediately be reached for comment.

No Democrats qualified for local races Tuesday on the July 20 primary ballot.

Statewide offices attracted slightly more interest than local races Tuesday.

State Rep. James Mills, R-Chestnut Mountain, signed up to run for another term in the statehouse Tuesday. Mills was first elected to the state House of Representatives in 1992.

And newcomers showed up in the races for the state's top offices Tuesday. Brunswick resident Otis Putnam, 35, qualified with the state's Republican party to run in the gubernatorial primary.

Tricia Carpenter McCracken, a 65-year-old Augusta Democrat, signed up in the race for lieutenant governor.

The state's attorney general's race received the most attention Tuesday, with a former U.S. attorney joining two other Republicans and one Democrat in qualifying for the seat.

Max Wood, 50, of Macon, qualified Tuesday along with Marietta Republican Sam Olens, Rome Republican Preston Smith and Smyrna Democrat Rob Teilhet.

Teilhet, 36, has served in the Georgia House of Representatives since 2002.

The post is being vacated by Thurbert Baker, a Democratic candidate for governor.

Qualifying for all offices up for grabs in November's general election continues today and runs through noon Friday.