Twenty-nine qualify to run for 16 seats on Anderson County Commission

Twenty-nine candidates have qualified to run for 16 seats on the Anderson County Commission in the county general election in August.

There are also three people running for the Tennessee House of Representatives in District 33, a new appointed Oak Ridge school board member running in a special election in August, and a Democratic challenger to Tennessee Senator Randy McNally, an Oak Ridge resident who is also lieutenant governor.

The deadline to qualify to run in the August 2 election, which will also feature contested elections for Anderson County sheriff and trustee, was noon Thursday.

Anderson County has eight County Commission districts, and there are two commissioners per district. The offices are non-partisan, meaning that, unlike some other county offices, they are not part of the Democratic and Republican primary elections on May 1.

There are six qualified candidates, the most in any district, for County Commission in District 1. The incumbents, Chuck Fritts and Tracy Wandell, are facing challenges from Felicia Foust, Floyd Grisham, Avery Johnson, and Tim Risden. District 1 includes the Claxton and Bull Run voting precincts.

In District 2, incumbent Rick Meredith has qualified while longtime Commissioner Mark Alderson has not picked up a petition to run for another term. Meredith will be joined on the ballot by Robert Jameson, Jeff Maxwell, and David Queener. District 2 includes Clinton, North Clinton, and South Clinton.

In District 3, incumbent Phil Warfield is facing challenges from Joshua Anderson, John Meyer, and Denver Waddell. District 3 Commissioner Steve Emert is challenging incumbent County Mayor Terry Frank in the ucoming primary, and he is not on the ballot for the August Commission race. District 3 includes Andersonville, Fairview, Glen Alpine, and Norris.

In District 4, incumbents Tim Isbel and Shain Vowell will face a challenge from Tabitha Harmon. District 4 includes Briceville, Clinton Middle, Lake City Middle, Rocky Top, and Rosedale.

District 5 incumbents Robert McKamey and Jerry White will face a challenge from Chris Silver. District 5 includes Clinton High, Dutch Valley, Marlow, and Norwood.

District 6 incumbents Catherine Denenberg and Steve Mead will be challenged by Anthony Allen. District 6 includes Oak Ridge City Hall, Robertsville, and West Hills.

In District 7, incumbents Jerry Creasey and Theresa Scott are opposed by Jimmy Bouchard and Denny Phillips. District 7 includes Glenwood, Highland View, and Pine Valley.

Incumbent District 8 Commissioners Bob Smallridge and Phil Yager are also facing no challenges. District 8 includes Emory Valley, Hendrix Creek, and Woodland.

There will be other contested partisan races on the August ballot, one for sheriff and the other for trustee. The August election for sheriff will feature Mark Lucas, a Democrat, against the winner of the May 1 Republican primary, which has three candidates: Russell Barker, Lewis Ridenour, and Mark “Hollywood” Whaley. The August election for trustee will feature Ebony Capshaw, a Democrat, against the winner of the May 1 Republican primary, which also has three candidates: Scott Burton, Regina Copeland, and Scott Gillenwaters. There is no incumbent in either one of these races.

Four other races will be decided in the Republican primary next month because there are no Democrats running in August. They include county mayor, where Emert and Frank are running; circuit court clerk, where William Jones, the incumbent, and Rex Lynch are the two candidates; county clerk, a race that features incumbent Jeff Cole and challenger Leesa Arowood; and register of deeds, where incumbent Tim Shelton is being challenged by Michael Foster.

In state races, two people, Richard Dawson of Clinton and Nathaniel Varner of Oak Ridge, are running in the Democratic primary in August to oppose the Republican incumbent, John Ragan of Oak Ridge, in the Tennessee House of Representatives District 33, which includes most of Anderson County, in the November election.

McNally, the longtime state senator, is running for re-election in the Tennessee Senate District 5 in the Republican primary in August, and he could be challenged in November by Stuart Starr, who is running in the Democratic primary in August.

Dennis Powers, the incumbent in the House’s 36th District, is running in the Republican primary in August, and Cassandra Mitchell of Heiskell is running in the Democratic primary.

In Oak Ridge, Ben Stephens will run in a special election in August. Stephens was appointed to fill the unexpired four-year term of former Oak Ridge Board of Education Vice Chair Bob Eby in March after Eby resigned to take a seat on the State Board of Education. To keep the seat, Stephens has to run in the special election in August and then again in the regular municipal election in November.

There will also be other elections on the August ballot, including for constable in three districts, for executive committee members for the state Democratic and Republican parties, and for Oliver Springs finance officer/court clerk.

Three incumbent members of the Anderson County School Board are running unopposed in August. They are Jo Williams in District 1, Teresa Portwood in District 2, and Don Bell in District 7. Also running is newcomer Christopher Gillenwaters in District 6,

Anderson County Road Superintendent Gary Long, a Republican, is running unopposed in both the May 1 primary and August 2 general election.

Early voting for the May 1 primaries begins Wednesday, April 11, and continues through April 26.

The final day to register to vote for the August 2 election is July 3. Early voting for the August election will run from July 13 through July 28.

The deadline to register to vote in the May 1 election has already passed.

For information, visit www.acelect.com

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today.