Knoxville City Council to Republican legislators: Butt out of our elections

Sarah Riley, Knoxville News Sentinel
·2 min read
2

Knoxville City Council members on March 22 slammed Tennessee Republican lawmakers who are trying to pass a bill that would eliminate local control over the city's election rules.

Community and council members spoke frankly in a hastily called special meeting about what they believe is the true impetus behind the bill: To help Republicans get elected in the progressive-leaning city. The Knox County Republican Party rallied a slate of candidates to run together in 2021, breaking a tradition of keeping explicit partisanship out of the city's nonpartisan elections. The Republican candidates lost all five of the races.

The bill, said council member Janet Testerman, "is fraught with ill intent and one-dimensional thinking."

Testerman is no card-carrying member of the Democratic Party. She ran last year as a Republican for the state House and lost in the primary to Elaine Davis, who ultimately won the seat. Davis is the bill's House sponsor, despite representing a Knox County district that includes a portion of Knoxville. The Senate sponsor is East Tennessean Sen. Frank Nicely, R-Strawberry Plains.

“It is striking that they don’t live in Knoxville,” City Council member Lauren Rider said. “This is wrong in nature. It’s wrong in spirit.”

The bill winding through the legislature would prohibit the election system that has been in place in Knoxville since the 1960s. It allows voters in each of six districts to narrow the field to two candidates in a primary election, but then gives voters citywide the power to choose who represents each district. Three of the nine council members are elected at large, meaning voters citywide select the primary and general election winners for those seats.

Council member Tommy Smith said he's concerned about the bill's unintended consequences.

"This change would invite outside influence into our elections," he said.

The bill has passed through several committees and is up for another vote next week. Members of the Senate State and Local Government Committee will discuss and vote on the bill March 28.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville City Council to GOP legislators: Butt out of our elections