The Results Are In

The August 7th election totals are in and changes are on tap for much of the County Commission, though the top elected position will not change in Jefferson County. For the second straight election, early and absentee totals bested Election Day votes with early voting coming in at 3417 and Election Day bringing in 3212 for a total vote of 6629. With all precincts reporting and only one provisional vote, Alan Palmieri garnered 3700 votes to Mike Dockery’s 2569 for reelection to the office of Mayor of Jefferson County.

Twenty One County Commission seats were on the table and there will be several new faces when the head governmental body convenes in September.

In District One Huffaker (497) and Kesterson (463) won their district, with Maples following with 231 votes. District 2 representatives will be Douglas (334) and Gaut (304) replacing a retiring Mills and Patterson (258). White Pine’s District 3 will remain unchanged as incumbents Baxley (501), Musick (441) and Tabor (430) were unopposed. Only two candidates were on the ballot for District 4, McGraw (459) and Turner (435), however District 5 had the most opposition. Solomon (379) and Seals (335) had the highest tallies in the district, followed by Potts (186), Stefaniak (184) and Griffin (137).

Eslinger (282) and incumbent Blevins (247) came out on top of a three man race (Taylor 227) and will represent district 6. An upset in district 7, one of the few districts that had two incumbents seeking reelection against a full field, will find incumbent Scarlett (333) retaining his seat and incumbent Akard (235) unseated by Bales (269). The trio was followed by Stansberry (140). Unchallenged in District 8, Dockery (422) and Tucker (248) will remain on the Commission. Two candidates were on the ballot for District 9, Carmichael (389) and Seal (316). In District 10, incumbents Beeler (196) and Sheets (183) held off challenges from Reed (162) and Cameron (144).

School Board representatives for District 1 were unchallenged and Bradley (1452) and Potts (1234) will serve another term. District 3 incumbents survived the challenge of Burton (547) and Vines (988) and Jarnigan (908) will retain their seats for another four years.

Highway Commissioners for District 1 will be Cate (933) and Batson (789). They were challenged by Smelcer (703) and Noyes (208). Simpson (1018) and Condry (794) were unchallenged for District 3.

Betty Fain won her bid as State Republican Committeewoman, as it was reported that, with nearly all votes in, incumbent Jennifer Little conceded the race.

Several races were unchallenged, having been decided in the May Primary. Candidates for judicial positions Hooper (5297), Vance (4882), Ogle (5039), Slone (5125), Forgety (5163) garnered votes as well as District Attorney General Dunn (5032), and Public Defender Miller (4761) who received confidence votes in Thursday’s election.

County Officials that were unchallenged but received confidence votes were Franklin (5444), Roach II (5138), McCoig (5077), Murphy (5180), Herndon (5089), Stiner (5269).

Hobart Rice was unchallenged for State Executive Committeeman and received 4008 votes. Democrat Committeewoman candidate Laughlin (263) led Cadle (246) in Jefferson County.

TN House of Representatives Farmer of the 17th (3238) and the 11th’s Faison (1403) will be on the November ballot, along with democrat candidate for the 11th Ramsey (177). Taking top seats in Jefferson County were Governor Haslam (4740), and Democrat McKarney (210). Incumbent Alexander received 2683 to his closest competitor Carr with 2442, with Ball receiving the nod from the Democrats in Jefferson County with 266.

Locally, Roe far outdistanced his nearest competitor, carrying more than 85% of the vote. Duncan carried Jefferson County for the US House Representative with a vote of 3087 to Zachary’s 1509. Final tallies for contested State and US positions were not available at the time of press.