By Steve Hunley
Knox County’s general election showed big wins for several Republican candidates, most notably US Senator Marsha Blackburn who won the GOP nomination for governor. That result should not have surprised much of anybody, as Senator Blackburn remained the favorite during the entirety of the primary campaign, although she faced determined opposition from Congressman John Rose and state Representative Monty Fritts. The gubernatorial primary was called by most news outlets less than an hour and a half after the polls had closed in Tennessee. From returns the following day, it appears that Blackburn won the Republican nomination by quite nearly ten percentage points, which is all the more impressive as the Rose campaign spent millions of dollars in negative advertising while Monty Fritts centered his own campaign around ideas. Senator Blackburn also enjoyed the advantage of a superlative campaign team led by Ward Baker.
Blackburn made a special effort to win East Tennessee. Senator Blackburn is from Middle Tennessee, yet she awaited the returns here in Knoxville on the night of the election. Her efforts paid off handsomely.
US Senator Bill Hagerty faced no opposition inside the primary on his way to winning a second term. Congressman Tim Burchett was also renominated without opposition. In Middle Tennessee, Congressman Andy Ogles lost his primary contest to Charlie Hatcher, a farmer, in an upset. With 99% of the vote totals in, Hatcher won 53% of the vote compared to 47% for Ogles. Tennessee’s Sixth District, vacated by John Rose, who was running for governor, saw a heated contest between former Congressman Van Hilleary and state Representative Johnny Garrett. Hilleary had been chief of staff for Rose but lost to Garrett, polling only 29% of the vote. Garrett polled almost 44% of the vote.
Brent Taylor is the Republican nominee in the newly redrawn 9th Congressional District and will face state Representative Justin Pearson, one of the “Tennessee Three.”
State Senator Richard Briggs crushed Kent Morrell to win renomination and goes on to the November general election, while Jimmy Matlock won the nomination to run for the seat held by Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, who is retiring.
School Board member Betsy Henderson will be Knox County’s new mayor, succeeding Glenn Jacobs. Democrat Beau Hawk won 47.5% of the vote in a close race.
Brent Gibson led the ticket with a big complement of votes, along with Charlie Susano and Mike Hammond, clerks of the Circuit and Criminal Courts, respectively. Sherry Witt, present county clerk, won a very large complimentary vote to return to the register of deeds’ office. Richie Beeler will replace Witt as county clerk. Nick McBride fended off a challenge from a Democrat to win the trustee’s office. Republicans Garrett Holt and Justin Cofer won the general election for the two at-large seats on the Knox County Commission. The down-ballot races showed less strength for Democratic candidates than weakness inside the campaigns of Republicans. Sheri Super, who upset incumbent County Commissioner Gina Oster inside the Republican primary, lost decisively to Democrat Brandon Huckaby in the Third District. Bill Sofield had upset two-term incumbent Kristi Kristy in the primary and lost the general election to Democrat Brandy Jenkins.
Democrats will crow about having picked up another seat on the Knox County Commission as well as the school board. It’s not so much that they had terrific voter appeal but rather they faced a not-so-great candidate in the Third District in Sheri Super. The overwhelmingly negative campaign run against Gina Oster also deeply hurt Super’s effort in the general election. That was also the case two years previously when Shane Jackson beat Garrett Holt to represent the Fourth District after a particularly vicious primary with an improbable 85-year-old challenger. Bill Sofield won the 9th District school board primary by a handful of votes and proved to be not as strong a candidate in the general election than Kristy would have been. Intraparty warfare and the inability to coalesce around general election candidates is how Democrats became the minority party in Tennessee. Republicans must remember the party faithful need to be able to come back together in order to win general elections; otherwise, it benefits the Democrats.
Time will tell if Republicans in Tennessee have learned anything at all. The election demonstrates that simply having an “R” after one’s name on the ballot does not ensure success in the general election. The quality of candidates does matter. We have opportunities to learn from our mistakes or we can keep repeating them until Republicans become the minority party in Tennessee once again.
