Ron Woody
Roane County Executive Ron Woody was re-elected to a third four-year term as county executive on Thursday, and Charlotte Bowers of Oak Ridge won one of two seats on Roane County Commission in District 4, which includes west Oak Ridge.
Woody was first elected to his office in August 2010. On Thursday, he beat challenger David Morgan, a former Roane County property assessor, 8,217 votes to 3,113 (72.52 percent to 27.48 percent). That’s according to unofficial election results reported after all 24 precincts had been counted.
Bowers, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County, was one of two Oak Ridge candidates to run for the District 4 seat on Roane County Commission in the August 2 election. The other was Cory Jenkins, general manager at Cumberland Utility District. They were among five candidates who qualified to run in the district.
The other three candidates were from Oliver Springs. They were James W. Brummett, an incumbent, and Thaxton H. “T.H.†Brown Jr. and Jerry W. White.
Brummett, a former chair of the Roane County Commission, was defeated Thursday, finishing third behind Bowers and White, who is also a new commissioner. (There is now a Jerry White on Anderson County Commission, and a Jerry White on the Roane County Commission; they are not the same person.) White has worked at K-25 and Y-12 in Oak Ridge, and he is currently employed providing security for the Roane County Sheriff’s Office at the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston.
Former Roane County Commissioner Steve Kelley, an Oak Ridge resident, had occupied one of the District 4 seats since 2010, and he had been expected to seek re-election this August. But Kelley died in February.
Kelley’s seat has traditionally been occupied by someone from Oak Ridge, but there is nothing that says it has to be. That had prompted some Oak Ridge residents to scramble to ensure that someone from Oak Ridge would be on the District 4 ballot.
District 4 includes the Oak Hills, Oliver Springs, and Orchard View voting precincts. Oak Hills is in west Oak Ridge.
The Roane County Commission has 15 commissioners from seven districts. The Roane County News reported that new commissioners were elected to seven of the 15 seats.
Roane County Sheriff Jack Stockton of Kingston ran unopposed in Thursday’s election. Roane County Circuit Court Clerk Ann Goldston and County Attorney Greg Leffew also ran unopposed.
Chris Mason of Harriman—who has served on Harriman City Council and as Harriman mayor, and is now Oliver Springs city manager—beat Nick Forrester, a Kingston political consultant, in the race for Roane County trustee, 6,309 votes (56.55 percent) to 4,847 (43.45 percent).
Beth Gage Johnson of Kingston, who works in the Roane County Clerk’s Office, defeated Chase Clem, Rockwood parks and recreation director, in the race for Roane County clerk, 6,025 votes (52.13 percent) to 5,532 (47.87 percent).
Sharon Brackett of Kingston easily won a fourth term as Roane County register of deeds, knocking back a challenge from Mike Elmore, also of Kingston, 8,967 votes (83.34 percent) to 1,793 (16.66 percent).
County offices in Roane County are non-partisan, meaning candidates don’t run as Democrats or Republicans.
Tennessee Representative Kent Calfee, a Kingston Republican in District 32, which includes part of Roane County and west Oak Ridge, ran unopposed in the state Republican primary. He will face a Democratic challenger, Mary Ellen Blencoe of Harriman, in the November 6 election.
A total of 12,406 voters cast ballots in the August 2 election in Roane County, including in absentee ballots and early voting, according to the Roane County Election Commission.
See the Roane County election results here.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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