Election Results for Aug. 7 Area Races

Local residents went to the polls on Aug. 7 to elect some new faces to office and to return some incumbents to their elected posts.

In Sewanee, 599 voters cast ballots (32.6 percent turnout). 434 people voted on election day; 165 absentee and early ballots were cast.

In Franklin County, 8,434 voters cast ballots (32.7 percent turnout); 4,349 voted on election day; 4,085 voted absentee or cast early ballots.

Adam Tucker defeated Lisa Rung for the District 5 seat on the Franklin County School Board. Tucker won by a very narrow margin of 14 votes, 2 percent of the total votes cast. District 5 includes Sewanee, Sherwood and Keith Springs Mountain.

Helen Stapleton won election to the Franklin County Commission, District 5, Seat B, defeating Dan Ferguson and Art Hanson. 

Steve Blount of Sewanee carried 59 percent of the vote over Justin Angel (41 percent) in Franklin County in the race for Circuit Court Judge of the 12th District Part III. When the votes were tallied for the entire judicial district (Franklin, Grundy, Sequatchie, Bledsoe, Rhea and Marion counties), Angel defeated Blount. Angel received 15,115 votes (56 percent); Blount received 11,796 votes (44 percent).

Richard Stewart was re-elected as Franklin County mayor, taking more than 51 percent of the vote, in the multi-person race.

Tim Fuller was easily re-elected as Franklin County sheriff, earning 69 percent of the vote, while opponent Mike Foster took 31 percent. 

David Alexander defeated Jack Daniel in Franklin County and across the area for the 39th District seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Although the official vote count is not complete, the tightest race in Tennessee was between incumbent Fourth District U.S. Representative Scott DesJarlais and State Senator Jim Tracy. Both men have declared victory, but neither has been officially designated the winner by the Secretary of State. The unofficial results on the state’s website do not include provisional ballots, which are to be counted over the next few days, according to the Secretary of State’s office. The Associated Press has not called a winner in the race.

Statewide, 77,500 ballots were cast in the Republican primary election for the congressional seat; at last report, there was a 37 vote difference between the two men, a .045 percent difference. For DesJarlais, the unofficial count is 34,791 votes (44.89 percent); for Tracy, 34,754 votes (44.84 percent). The next closest challenger was John Anderson, who received 4,590 votes (6 percent).

In Franklin County: 73 percent voted for DesJarlais; 17 percent for Tracy; 6 percent for Anderson.

At the Sewanee box: 53 percent voted for DesJarlais, 30 percent for Tracy; 12 percent for Anderson.

“I want to thank our supporters, volunteers and all those who took time to participate in the democratic process,” DesJarlais said.

“And I especially want to thank our many friends in the Sewanee community, not just for their political support, but for the friendship they have shown the entire DesJarlais family throughout the years,” he said. 

“I made it clear from the beginning that I would proudly run on my record in Congress, and that is precisely what my campaign did. While my opponent chose to go down the path of desperate personal attacks, we stayed focused on the issues affecting Tennesseans,” the congressman said. “It is truly humbling to have been chosen as the winner of the Republican primary, and I look forward to continuing our fight for less government and more jobs.”

The winner of the Republican primary will meet Democrat Lenda Sherrell in the November election.

In the race for the U.S. Senate:, incumbent Lamar Alexander defeated Republican challenger Joe Carr. Statewide, Alexander receive 49 percent of the vote; Carr received 40 percent of the vote. Carr carried Franklin County, where he received 51 percent of the vote; Alexander received 42 percent. In Sewanee, Alexander won with 55 percent.

Unofficial election results for state and federal races are posted at <www.GoVoteTN.com>. For precinct breakdowns, county statistics and local races, go to <www.franklincotn.us/election_results/index.html>.