Many county mayors out

Six county mayors’ seats have changed hands in Southeast Tennessee this election season.

Incumbents were knocked off in Bledsoe, Meigs and Rhea counties in Thursday’s balloting, while Grundy and Polk counties’ leaders both lost primary bids in May and Marion County’s longtime executive didn’t seek re-election.

Of eight Southeast Tennessee counties, only Bradley County Mayor D. Gary Davis and Sequatchie County Executive Michael Hudson held onto their seats in contested races.

Hudson, who just turned 28, said his honesty and hard work in office paid off in his re-election to a second full term.

“We’ve done a lot of good for this county,” he said. “I’ve done fairly well in a short period of time.”

Other incumbents weren’t so fortunate.

Despite sweeping an early online straw poll with 57 percent of the vote, Bledsoe Mayor Gregg Ridley, a Republican, ended up narrowly losing to Democratic challenger Robert Collier.

In the only contested state House race in the region, incumbent Republican Eric Swafford lost heavily to Democrat Cameron Sexton.

Grundy County voters chose Lonnie D. Cleek, who defeated LaDue Bouldin in the May Democratic primary. Cleek on Thursday easily outpolled independent Kelly Foutch.

Though local results were mixed, Dr. Bruce Oppenheimer, professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University, said Republican turnout statewide was heavy because most of the primary contests were in that party.

“There was very little reason for Democrats to come out,” he said. “That skewed the voting in other offices.”

Oppenheimer said he also suspects the recession is behind the general anti-incumbent sentiment.

“When the economy’s not doing well there’s always a tendency to blame those who are in office, so it’s not surprising some of them get turned out,” he said.

If some voters blamed incumbents, they also looked to tried-and-true alternatives.

In Polk County, 20-year veteran executive Hoyt Firestone turned the tables in the May Democratic primary on Mike Stinnett, who beat him in 2006. Thursday, Firestone defeated Republican challenger David Dishman.

In Meigs County, former County Executive Garland Lankford, a Republican, beat Democratic incumbent Ken Jones, and in Rhea County, Billy Ray Patton lost to George Thacker in a nonpartisan contest.

Lankford said incumbents have been losing ground from the highest to the lowest levels of government in recent years.

“It seems to be a trend nationwide,” he said. “People are very concerned about the economy right now, extremely concerned. Incumbents are sometimes a victim of concern no matter what their politics are.”

Deloris Grissom, election administrator in Meigs County, said she thought the polls saw a healthy turnout.

“Our sheriff was elected in May, and our road commissioner had no opposition. When you consider those two factors, we had a real good turnout,” she said. “Nobody acted ugly; everything went smoothly.”

In Marion County, longtime Mayor Howell Moss retired after 24 years, leaving an open seat for this year’s election.

David A. Kirk, a Democrat, beat Republican Russ Hood with 56 percent of the vote.

Hood said Thursday he appreciated those who voted for him. Kirk said he was “tickled” with the victory.

Whether incumbent or challenger, most candidates campaigned on promises of making jobs their top priority.

Both Hudson and Lankford pledged to make jobs and new industry a focus in their counties.

“People from both political parties are looking to make a change,” Lankford said. “If I don’t perform, they’ll treat me the same way.”