Hamilton County candidate list for August election is set

photo Thursday was the last day for candidates to qualify for the Aug. 2 state primary elections.

The Aug. 2 ballot is closer to final.

Twenty-two candidates for local offices, 19 primary contenders for Tennessee General Assembly seats and four Hamilton County residents seeking to represent the state's 3rd District in Congress have qualified for the ballot.

The Hamilton County Election Commisson's deadline for the August county general election and state primary was noon Thursday.

"It will be a big ballot," Elections Administrator Charlotte Mullis-Morgan said. "August is crazy sometimes."

March primaries were held for three county offices. Democrat Jelena Butler, Republican Bill Bennett and independent Conrad Taylor will face off for property assessor.

The Hamilton County Commission District 3 race will be between Republican Marty Haynes and Democrat Mitzi Yates.

The county mayor contestants are independent Richard Ford, Republican Jim Coppinger and Democrat Rick Wilson.

Eight other nonpartisan races will be joining those on the ballot. Those are Lookout Mountain Commission, Lookout Mountain School Board, Hamilton County Board of Education Districts 1, 2, 4 and 7, Soddy-Daisy judge and General Sessions judge for Division 5.

The August primary will include several state races and one federal race. State House seats for Districts 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 will be on the ballot. All but one of those, District 29, will have more than one Hamilton County contender.

Former General Sessions Judge Mike Carter, who served as special assistant to former Mayor Claude Ramsey, is unopposed locally in District 29.

Basil Marceaux Sr. is challenging incumbent Richard Floyd in the District 27 Republican primary.

Current state Reps. JoAnne Favors and Tommie Brown are facing off in the District 28 Democratic primary. Their seats were combined in the recent state redistricting process, which takes place every 10 years to balance for population shifts and racial concentration.

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State Senate District 10, which is being vacated by Sen. Andy Berke, also will be on the ballot. Both the Republicans and Democrats will have contested primaries for the seat.

Three Democrats, Andraé McGary, Quenston Coleman and David Testerman, are seeking the seat. Republicans Todd Gardenhire and Greg Vital are vying in the Republican primary.

Though four candidates qualified locally for the 3rd District congressional seat, more will be on the ballot. Candidates qualify in their home counties, Mullis-Morgan said. The state has asked the county to wait until the second week in May before finalizing the ballot to allow time for candidates like Scottie Mayfield, who lives in McMinn County, to be added to the local list, she said.

Though the candidate list is closer to complete, Mullis-Morgan and her staff still are working to notify voters of precinct and district line changes. New cards should be sent out by late May or early June, she said.

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