Election Day is around the corner

Following Sevier County’s May Democratic and Republican Primaries, a republican dominated roster of election candidates leaves only a few races left to decide in the up-coming August 3 General Elections. A primary election allows the top vote-getters from each political party to emerge in a separate election, pitting the republicans against the democrats against the independents. Most of the county’s races, however, only involved republican candidates, meaning that the victor has already been decided. And, while democratic votes in May paled in comparison to the number of republican votes, a few races coming in August are still up in the air. Long-time County Mayor Larry Waters, for example, will square-off against Pigeon Forge resident Jesse T. Braswell. Braswell, however, faces an obvious up-hill battle as he garnered only 801 votes, versus Waters’ 10,218 votes. A few County Commission seats also have democratic or independent hopefuls including the Seventh, Eighth, Tenth and Eleventh districts. In the Seventh District, the highest vote tallies went to land developer Kenneth Whaley with 382 votes and incumbent Ronnie Allen, with 327 votes. Democratic challenger Gary T. Eichmann received the least number of votes of the seven candidates, with 63 votes. The battle for the Eighth District’s three commission seats will come down to independent Gerald Harrell versus incumbent Kent Woods who received the most votes at 624, incumbent Mike Hillard who got 524 votes and Gene Byrd who got 427 votes. The Tenth District race will involve independent Steven J. Breener and democrat Scott Whaley. Whaley managed 94 votes in the primary race, while republican candidates Brian Delius and Jim Keener (incumbent) received 694 and 432 votes, respectively. Finally, the Eleventh District is also still up for grabs, featuring democrat Vesna Plakanis who received 83 votes in the primary elections. Republican incumbents Gary Cole and Ray I. Ogle faired the best in that race with 802 and 897 vote, respectively. Sevier County Register of Deeds, Sherry H. Robertson Huskey, who garnered over 10,000 votes in May, will need to beat out democratic challenger Thomas Dziedzic to retain her seat. Dziedic received 713 votes in the primaries. Voters will also be deciding who will replace Tennessee’s U.S. Senator, Bill Frist. Four frontrunners have emerged in this race, split between Democratic Memphis Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., and Republican candidates Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary, who are both former Tennessee congressmen, and Bob Corker, former mayor of Chattanooga. Also, Republican Senator Jim Bryson is challenging Governor Phil Bredesen (Democrat) for his position. Sevier’s two state representatives, Joe McCord and Richard Montgomery, are both running uncontested.