Rutherford beats Rogers in sheriff's race

Voters went to the polls in Unicoi County Tuesday, May 5, to cast their ballots for various offices, including sheriff and public defender. In an election that saw a voter turnout of 29.28 percent of register voters turning out to cast ballots, some races showed very thin margins. In the race to replace retiring Unicoi County Sheriff Michael Hensley, Bobby Rutherford received 1,900 votes while Jonathan T. "Frank" Rogers got 1,540 votes. In the race for public defender for District 1, Bill Donaldson received 1,621 votes in Unicoi County, compared to 1,398 votes for Melanie Sellers. James "Jamie" Harris, Tim Lingerfelt and Loren Thomas were seeking seats on the county commission representing District 1. Thomas got 747 votes. Lingerfelt received 739 votes. Harris received 697 votes. They will face no opposition in the August election. In the race for county commission seats representing District 2, Jason Harris received 674 votes. Corey Hatcher received 521 votes. Patrick Callahan received 476 votes. Brian Delp got 445 votes. Austin Finch drew 316 votes. The three District 2 candidates who amassed the most votes in Tuesday's primary – Harris, Hatcher and Callahan – will face off in the August General Election against Christiana Gilbert, an Independent candidat running for the chance to serve on the county representing District 2. In the commission race for District 3, Gina Wilson Clark pulled down 681 votes. Debbie Bennett Lemmon received 625 votes. Todd Wilcox received 622 votes. Cody Scott received 600 votes. Clark, Lemmon and Wilcox will now represent the Republican Party as candidates for the August General Election and face no opposition from other candidates. Incumbent County Mayor Garland "Bubba" Evely drew 2,901 votes while running unopposed for another term. Katie Howell Bennett received 3,039 votes as she ran unopposed for another term as Trustee. Darren C. Shelton sought another term as Circuit Court Clerk. Running unopposed, he received 2,995 votes. Patty D. Treadway, running unopposed for another term as County Clerk, received 3,118 votes. Debbie Tittle, running unopposed for another term as Register of Deeds, got 3,096 votes. Terry L. Haynes, running unopposed for another term as Road Superintendent, got 2,815 votes. In the school board race for District 1, Tammy Edwards Tipton received 801 votes while Cathy J. Thomas got 774 votes. In the school board race for District 3 Steve Scott received 908 votes. Steve Willis got 809 votes. All votes remain unofficial until verified by the Unicoi County Election Commission, which will meet at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 14, to certify the results of the Unicoi County Primary election. All meetings are open to the public. The meeting will be held in the in the Election Commission office, 106 Nolichucky Ave., Erwin. In the race for District 1 constable, Arthur Metcalf received 991 votes. In the race for District 2 constable, Chad A. McKinney got 928 votes. In the race for District 3 constable, Timmy S. Lewis got 990 votes. A total of 3,511 votes were cast out of 11,992 register voters in Tuesday's election. The county's Administrator of Elections Sarah Fain noted that turnout was not dramatically down from other recent county primary elections. She noted that the 2022 county primary got 35 percent of registered voters to the polls. "That race included all the judges across the district and a few more contested races," Fain added. She also noted that the 2018 county primary had a 31 percent turnout. Fain said Election Day went smoothly. "It went well," she said. "Unicoi voted in the new gym at the school. It's a nice new space."