Durham County Commissioner Joe Bowser is running for mayor.

Bowser, who has more than a year left on his current county term, filed this morning to challenge incumbent Mayor Bill Bell. Bowser followed Sylvester Williams, an East Durham pastor, who filed earlier today.

Filing for the 2011 municipal election closed at noon with four candidates for mayor and eight for three at-large seats on the City Council. Ralph McKinney Jr., who ran unsuccessfuly for Council in 2001, entered the race for mayor on Thursday.

Bell is seeking a sixth consecutive two-year term.

Donald Hughes, a previous, but unsuccessful, candidate for City Council and School Board, also filed this morning. He completed the Council field, joining private citizens Alice Bailey, Solomon Burnette, Victoria Peterson, Steve Schewel and John Tarantino.

Two-term incumbent Council members Eugene Brown and Diane Catotti are also in the race.

Durham holds a primary election Oct. 11. The general election is Nov. 8.

Three more candidates entered the field for Durham's city elections today, and a fourth announced he will be going in.

Ralph McKinney, who made an unsuccessful run for City Council 10 years ago, became the first challenger to Mayor Bill Bell's bid for re-election to a sixth consecutive term.

McKinney filed as a candidate today, while Sylvester Williams, an East Durham minister who ran unsuccessfully for city council in 2009, announced he will file for mayor Friday morning.

Solomon Burnette, a political newcomer, and John Tarantino, who has previously run for City Council, School Board and state Senate — without success — filed for at-large Council seats.

Their addition makes seven candidates vying for three at-large seats, including two-term incumbents Eugene Brown and Diane Catotti. Candidate filing closes at noon Friday.

Long-serving city councilman Howard Clement got a second challenger Wednesday when Sylvester Williams, pastor at the Assembly at Durham Christian Center and a vocal opponent of the East End Connector highway project, filed for the Ward 2 seat in this fall's city election.

Williams joins Libertarian Pary county chairman Matt Drew in opposing Clement, who has served on the city council since 1983.

As of Thursday morning, Ward 3 council member Mike Woodard and Mayor Bill Bell had no opposition for re-election, and no one had filed for the Ward 1 seat currently held by Mayor Pro Tem Cora Cole McFadden.