Early voting starts Thursday
Three new precincts to open
By Mike Steely
Senior Writer
steelym@knoxfocus.com
Knox County voters will begin voting Thursday on a long ballot that includes everything from commission races to board of education seats. Early voting continues until July 27 and the General Election is August 1.
The Knox County Election Commission has added three new early voting locations: Gibbs Ruritan Club, 7827 Tazewell Pike, Corryton; Knox County Election Commission west office, 109 Lovell Heights Road; and Carter Elementary School, 8455 Strawberry Plains Pike.
The other early voting places are: City-County Building, Main Assembly Room, 400 Main Street; Downtown West, 1645 Downtown West Blvd., Unit 40; Eternal Life Harvest Center at Five Points, 2410 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.; Knoxville Expo Center, 5441 Clinton Highway; Meridian Baptist Church, 6513 Chapman Highway; New Harvest Park, 4775 New Harvest Lane; Halls Recreation Center, 6933 Recreation Lane; and Karns Senior Center, 8042 Oak Ridge Highway.
Seventeen local offices are up for election including the Knox County Law Director, Assessor of Property, four Knox County Board of Education seats, seven Knox County Commission seats, a U.S. Senate seat, District 2’s House of Representatives seat, seven Tennessee House seats, and one Tennessee Senate seat.
The early voting and August 1st general election have two sets of ballots: The general election for all Knox County offices and the primary election for all state and federal offices.
Knox County General and Farragut Municipal Election
The local county commission races on the ballot are for Districts 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9. At least five of the races will see new commission members elected and, should the two incumbents lose, seven new members will take office.
In District 1, Republican Charles Frazier faces Democrat Damon L. Rawls to replace Dasha Lundy who chose not to seek re-election. District 2 has incumbent Democrat Courtney Durrett facing Republican Debbie Phillips and Independent Ethan Grantham.
District 4 has Republican Garrett Holt facing Democrat Shane Jackson to replace Kyle Ward, who chose not to seek re-election. District 5 has Republican Angela Russell facing Democrat S. Arthur Moore. Both seek to replace term-limited John Schoonmaker. District 6 has incumbent Republican Terry Hill, currently serving as commission chairwoman, facing Democrat Daniel Edward Greene.
District 8 Commissioner Richie Beeler chose not to run and the race has Republican Adam Thompson facing Democrat Charles V. Chandler. Republican Andy Fox will face Democrat Matthew Park and Independent Stacey Bryan Smith in District 9. The three vie to replace term-limited Commissioner Carson Dailey.
Also on the ballot is the race for Knox County Law Director with incumbent Republican David Buuck facing Democrat Jackson Fenner.
The assessor of property race pits former assessor Phil Ballard as the Republican nominee and Drew A. Harper as the Democrat in that race.
The board of education has four districts on the ballot: Districts 2, 3, 5 and 8. All are contested races except for District 8.
District 2 incumbent Jennifer Owens, running as an Independent, is challenged by Democrat Anne Templeton and Independent Pat Polis.
District 3’s race to replace Daniel Watson has Republican Angie Goethert and Democrat Patricia Fontenot-Riley seeking the seat.
District 5 has Republican Lauren Morgan and Democrat Terrye Whitaker seeking to replace Susan Horn, who chose not to seek re-election.
District 8 only has Travis Wright, the Republican nominee, seeking to replace the late Mike McMillan. There is no Democrat or Independent opposing Wright.
Republican Hector I. Sanchez is seeking re-election for Knox County Criminal Judge, Division II, and has no Democrat opponent.
In the Farragut non-partisan election for aldermen, Alexander J. Cain faces Jeffery Devlin in Ward 1 and in Ward 2, incumbent Drew Burnette faces Randal Roberts.
State Primary
Seven Tennessee House races are on the ballot in the primaries. At present there is only one state House race with no primary or general election opponent as incumbent Gloria Johnson seeks to retain her seat in District 90. Her state-wide Democratic primary race against three opponents will determine if she runs for the U.S. Senate in November and that will affect her race for state House.
Otherwise every other race for the state House will see a challenger after the primary.
District 14 incumbent and Republican Jason Zachary will face Democrat Amanda Collins in November. Neither have a primary opponent.
The 15th District’s Democratic primary pits Democratic incumbent Sam McKenzie against Knox County Commissioner Dasha Lundy. The winner will face Republican Justin Hirst.
Incumbent Republican Michele Carringer is unopposed in her primary and will face Democrat Lauren Carver and Independent Sean Eastham in the general election for the District 16 seat.
District 18 will see incumbent Republican Elaine Davis facing Democrat Bryan S. Goldberg in the general election.
Incumbent Dave Wright is unopposed in the District 19 primary.
In the 89th District, incumbent Republican Justin Lafferty has no primary opponent and will face Democrat Cary Hammond in the general.
Tennessee state Senator Becky Duncan Massey has a Republican primary opponent in Monica Irvine. The winner will face Democrat Domonica Bryan in November.
