Election Quick View
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Well, another election has come and gone. Below are a few highlights
from this election.
The biggest thing that I noticed was the low, low turnout. Just 8,949 of more than 33,000 registered voters in Loudon County bothered to cast a ballot and that's sad. While long time incumbents, Lamar Alexander and Jimmy Duncan both lost their elections in Loudon County, both won their respective races.
Also, even all three liberal supreme court judges on the ballot were voted to be replaced in Loudon County, all three won their seats back.
Pemberton scrapes by McFarland, but just barely
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It appears that Mike Pemberton will be the next 9th Judicial
District circuit court judge.
According to unofficial returns in four counties, Pemberton
pulled off the win by a scant 144 votes.
“We did it,” Pemberton told his supporters gathered at Jake's Tavern and Grill. “We did it the right way, and at least in this four-county race, you can do it the right way and you can be successful.” The final numbers were 12,603 Pemberton to 12,459 McFarland. Pemberton's strongest support was in Roane County, 5,830 to 4,899. “Roane County is the county that knows us both the best, and so Roane County was in the best position, I think, of all the counties to assess the issues and cut through all the clutter,” Pemberton said. Morgan County final numbers were 2,468 for McFarland and 2,380 for Pemberton. In Meigs, McFarland had 1,104 to Pemberton's 876. In Loudon, the numbers were 3,988 for McFarland and 3,517 for Pemberton. Pemberton said McFarland called him late Thursday night. “It was very gracious,” Pemberton said of the call. “He wished me the best, told me I ran a good race. I told him the same thing. He said he hoped to appear in my court sometime and I said I'd look forward to it.” Loudon County's Leon Shelds easily won his bid for State Executive Committeeman District 05 position but ultimately lost overall in the three county race. The same was true for Loudon County's Dixie Damm in the democrat race for State Executive Committeewoman District 05.
In the only contested county race, 2nd district incumbent school board member, William Jenkins easily defeated challenger Josh Marler by a vote of 522 to 247. In a couple of non local races, state senator Stacey Campfield got clobbered and Weston Wamp came up less than 500 votes short of a win.
And finally, the sheriff candidate down in Monroe County who was supposedly disqualified to run for sheriff actually won. That one will be a mess. We'll discuss more later. |