Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace has announced his candidacy for re-election.

Pace, 53, is a 32-year law enforcement veteran and is seeking his fifth term as sheriff of Warren County. The independent will face former deputy Martis “Bubba” Comans, a Democrat, in the Nov. 8 general election.

Pace holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Southern Mississippi and has taken graduate courses at USM and the University of Virginia. He was an adjunct instructor of criminal justice at Hinds Community College, Vicksburg-Warren Campus, for 15 years. Pace is a graduate of the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy and the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va.

He currently serves on the executive board for the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force for the state of Mississippi and is the incoming president of the Mississippi chapter of the FBI National Academy Associates. He is a member of the Mississippi Sheriffs’ Association, having served on several committees including the Sheriffs’ Boys and Girls Ranch Executive Committee.

A lifelong member of the First Presbyterian Church of Vicksburg, Pace is an ordained deacon and elder and currently serves on the advisory board for three local charities.

Pace and his wife, Kim, are longtime softball team sponsors for the City of Vicksburg Recreation League.

“It has been my distinct honor to serve the citizens of Warren County as a uniformed deputy, an investigator and for the past 16 years as your sheriff,” Pace wrote in a press release. “I am very proud of the men and women who serve with me in your sheriff’s office and the strides we have taken together to make the Warren County Sheriff’s Office one of the most professional sheriff’s offices in Mississippi.”