Incumbents win big in Anderson, but some Oak Ridge newcomers
Incumbents were the winners for most of the local races in the Anderson County General Election last Thursday, but residents will see some new faces on the County Commission, particularly for the Oak Ridge seats.
This was the first general election in which county commission candidates declared a party affiliation.
The vote numbers listed in this story are taken from the Anderson County Election Commission website unless noted otherwise.
In District 1, incumbent Commissioner Tracy Wandell and newcomer Tyler Mayes were elected to the two seats on Commission, one seat vacated by Commissioner Chuck Fritts, who chose not to seek re-election. Wandell received 630 votes and Mayes, 553. Challenger Rodney Jennings received 485 votes. Jennings and Mayes are Republicans, Wandell, an Independent.
In District 2, Michael Foster and Denise Palmer beat out retired Anderson County Director of Schools V.L. Stonecipher for the two Commission seats. Foster was the top vote-getter with 725 votes, followed by Palmer with 267 and Stonecipher with 177. Foster and Palmer are Republicans, Stonecipher an Independent.
Foster and Palmer replace Robert Jameson and Rick Meredith, who both chose not to seek re-election this year.
In District 3, current Commission Chairman Joshua Anderson, an Independent, was the top winner with 1,006 votes, followed by newcomer Shelly Vandagriff, a Republican with 911. Challenger Lindsay Smith, a Republican, lost with 710 votes.
Vandagriff replaces Commissioner Denver Waddell who chose not to seek re-election.
In District 4, incumbents Tim Isbel, a Republican, and Shain Vowell, an Independent, won re-election. Isbel received 558 votes, while Vowell received 423. Challenger Amy Jones, also a Republican, got 363 votes.
In District 5, incumbents Robert McKamey and Jerry White, the lone candidates for their two seats, received 471 and 500 votes, respectively. Both are Republicans.
In Oak Ridge's District 6, newcomer Anthony Allen beat Commissioner Steve Mead by a vote of 443 to 428, while incumbent Commissioner Catherine Denenberg was the top vote getter with 475 votes. Allen and Mead are Republicans while Denenberg is an Independent.
In Oak Ridge's District 7, newcomers Sabra Beauchamp, a Republican, and Democrat Steve Verran won election to the two seats vacated by Commissioners Jerry Creasey and Theresa Scott deciding to not seek re-election. Verran received the most votes, 672, followed by Beauchamp with 472. Republican Steve Poppick received 364 votes.
Incumbent Commissioners Bob Smallridge and Phil Yager won re-election to their seats with votes of 861 and 795, respectively, for Oak Ridge's 8th District.
Sheriff
Anderson County Sheriff Russell Barker, a Republican, easily beat challenger Rusty Carr, an Independent. Barker received 5,717 votes. Carr got 3,051 votes.
State Senate, House
In the Tennessee Republican Primary, state Sen. Randy McNally of Oak Ridge handily beat his GOP challenger Earle Segrest by a total vote of 8,574 to 4,395 or 66.1% to 33.9%. These were the totals with 99% of the vote counted as of mid-Friday morning, according to information from The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville.
In Anderson County, McNally received 5,341 votes or 88.62%, according to the county Election Commission's results. Segrest received 686 or 11.38% of the votes. District 5 also includes voters in Knox and Loudon counties. No Democrat was seeking the Senate seat in that party's state primary.
In the state House of Representatives race for the 33rd District, Oak Ridgers John Ragan, the Republican incumbent, and Jim Dodson, the Democratic challenger, will face off in the state general election in November.
Dodson, an Oak Ridge City Council member, beat James "Mike" Brewer in the Democratic Primary. Dodson received 1,915 votes or 81.77%, while Brewer received 427 or 18.23%.
Ragan was unchallenged in the Republican Primary. He received 4,401 votes.
For state House District 41, Ed Butler beat Michael Swisher and Bradley Hayes in the Republican Primary, although Swisher won in Anderson County, where he lives. The 41st District seat includes parts of Anderson, Fentress, Morgan, Overton and Roane County.
The vote, with 98% of the votes counted, was Butler, 4,118; Swisher, 2,417; and Hayes, 1,172.
In Anderson County, Swisher received 855 votes, followed by Butler with 252 and Hayes with 100.
U.S. House
In the Third District race, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann easily beat Sandy Casey to receive the Republican nomination. With 99% of the vote in, Fleischmann received 52,0060 votes or 79.3% compared to Casey with 13,603 votes or 20.7%.
In Anderson County, Fleischmann received 4,704 votes or 78.01%, while Casey received 1,326 votes or 21.99%.
In Roane County, Fleischmann received 588 votes or 78.9% and Casey got 157 votes or 21.1%.
Fleischmann will face Democrat Meg Gorman in the November federal election. She was the lone Democratic candidate in that party's primary, receiving 2,400 votes in Anderson County.
Governor
Incumbent Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, received 5,613 votes in Anderson County. He'll run against the Democratic Party winner Jason Martin.
In Anderson County, Martin received 1,261 votes, followed by J.B. Smiley Jr. with 686 and Carnita Faye Atwater with 646.
Other local races
Here are the Anderson County top vote-getters for other contested races:
State Executive Committeeman, District 5, Republican: Tim Hutchison
State Executive Committeeman, District 5, Democrat: Jack Vaughan
State Executive Committeewoman, District 5, Republican: Terry Frank
State Executive Committeewoman, District 5, Democrat: Anne Backus
Constable District 1, 2, 3 and 4: Steven Williams, Shannon Gray, William Jones (unopposed). and Fred Gilliam, respectively.
Donna Smith can be contacted at (865) 220-5514 or email her at dsmith@oakridger.com. Follow her on Twitter @ridgernewsed.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Incumbents win big in Anderson, but some Oak Ridge newcomers
