August 2024 State and Local Election Results
August 2, 2024
County Election Results
Voters across the state went to the polls yesterday. For TCSA members, this was mainly a year for some of the county highway superintendents to be on the ballot. Most of these races were settled earlier in the year during the county primary elections, but there were a few contested elections decided yesterday. In Lewis County, Kerry Cagle, who was previously appointed to the position following the retirement of Joyce Holt, defeated a write-in challenger to win a new term. Likewise, in Roane County, incumbent Dennis Ferguson held off a challenger to be re-elected. In Overton County, in an election to fill the office following the retirement of James Norrod, Tim Kennedy prevailed.
There were also three elections to fill the remainder of the term for vacancies in county mayor seats. In Weakley County, Dale Hutcherson was elected to fill the remainder of the term after previous mayor Jake Bynum resigned back in the Spring. Next door, in Henry County, Randy Geiger won his election to fill the remainder of the term following Mayor John Penn Ridgeway stepping down at the end of June. In Coffee County, voters selected County Commissioner Dennis Hunt to fill the vacancy created when previous Mayor Judd Matheny passed away in April.
State Legislative Races See Some Surprising Defeats
Half of the State Senate and all of the House of Representative offices were on the ballot yesterday in state primary elections. There were some surprising defeats of long-serving legislators in both chambers. In the Senate, Education Committee Chairman John Lundberg lost a hotly contested election to challenger Bobby Harshbarger, the son of Congresswoman Harshbarger. In the 8th district, Jessie Seal defeated long-time legislator Senator Frank Niceley. In other districts, Republican incumbents Becky Massy, Todd Gardenhire, Ken Yager, Ferrell Haile and John Stevens fended off primary challengers. On the Democratic side, Senator Sara Kyle won a contested primary in the 30th district in Memphis. In the 2nd district, longtime Blount County Circuit Court Clerk Tom Hatcher won the Republican primary to succeed retiring Senator Art Swann. He will face Democrat Patti Young in November.
In the House, the surprise of the night was the defeat of powerful House Finance Committee Chairwoman Patsy Hazlewood by challenger Michelle Reneau. She will face Democrat Kathy Lennon in November for the district 27 House seat in Hamilton County. Government Operations Committee Chair John Ragan of Anderson County also lost his primary to former police chief and director of UT’s Law Enforcement Innovation Center, Rick Scarbrough. He will face Democrat Anne Backus in November. For open seats, Sevier County Commissioner Fred Atchley won the Republican primary to succeed Dale Carr in district 12. He will face Democrat Leslie Braddock. In the open seat in District 20, Blount County Commissioner Tom Stinnett won the Republican primary and will face Democrat Karen Gertz. In District 65, it appears that Governor Lee-endorsed candidate Lee Reeves narrowly defeated Williamson County Commission chair Brian Beathard in the Republican primary. In District 68, Aron Mayberry also appears to have narrowly defeated Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Smith in the Republican Primary for an open seat. Elsewhere, incumbent legislators were able to fend off challengers in their primaries, including several coming from current or former county officials.