COVINGTON, Tenn. – Voters decided a cluster of contested local primaries Thursday: a Republican race to succeed longtime Tennessee House District 81 Rep. Debra Moody, an upset in the county’s Democratic Party leadership, and Tipton County’s role in unseating a sitting congressman.

Tennessee House, District 81

Tipton County Commissioner and Atoka Alderman Brett A. Giannini defeated Jason Fleming, chief of staff to the Covington mayor, for the Republican nomination to the District 81 seat being vacated by Moody, R-Covington, who is retiring after 14 years in the General Assembly. Giannini carried Tipton County, 4,098 votes to 2,863 (58.82 percent to 41.09 percent), and won district-wide, 4,387 votes to 3,278 (57.2 percent to 42.8 percent), according to unofficial returns.

Fleming, however, carried Haywood County, 415 votes to 289. No Democrat qualified for District 81, which covers Tipton County and part of Haywood County, leaving Giannini unopposed in November.

Countywide offices

Two countywide row offices were contested between Republican and independent candidates. For circuit court clerk, Republican Shane Waits defeated independent Connie D. Fayne, 6,354 votes (68.89 percent) to 2,861 votes (31.02 percent). For register of deeds, Republican Stephanie A. Presley defeated independent Trena Jones, 6,041 votes (66.38 percent) to 3,057 votes (33.59 percent).

Republican Kristie Glass Maxwell ran unopposed for county trustee, taking 8,037 votes (99.16 percent). Sheriff Shannon Beasley, also a Republican, ran unopposed and received 8,199 votes (99.19 percent), as did County Clerk April Fortner, with 7,499 votes (99.06 percent).

County executive

Republican William “Billy” Daugherty ran unopposed for county executive, receiving 7,747 votes, or 98.59 percent, countywide. Daugherty is set to succeed County Executive Jeff Huffman, who is not seeking reelection.

County commission

Several county commission districts, which elect two members each, drew more than two candidates. In District 2, Republican Michael W. Naifeh (722 votes, 43.84 percent) and independent Justin Gangaware (605 votes, 36.73 percent) outpaced Republican James Hardin (312 votes, 18.94 percent) for the two seats. In District 7, independent Courtney Fee (645 votes, 44.21 percent) and Republican Charles Bradley Case (570 votes, 39.07 percent) outpaced independent Alvis Ferrell (240 votes, 16.45 percent). In District 9, Republicans David Copeland (588 votes, 44.41 percent) and Jonathan G. Murphy (449 votes, 33.91 percent) outpaced independent James Fields (281 votes, 21.22 percent).

The remaining districts had exactly two candidates for two seats: independents Shelia G. Barlow and Rusty Wooten in District 1; Republicans Richard Kelley and John Anthony Mashburn in District 3; Republicans Walker A. Adams and Jason R. Skinner in District 4; Republicans Randy M. Roe and Glenn Turner in District 5; Republicans James “Jimbo” Adkins and Michelle Smith in District 6; and Republican Cecil G. Watson and independent James Lamont Sneed in District 8.

State executive committeewoman, District 32

Munford’s Georgia M. Dawson lost her bid for Democratic state executive committeewoman to Regina Nash of Halls, despite carrying Tipton County. Dawson took 1,013 votes to Nash’s 914 in Tipton County (52.43 percent to 47.31 percent), but Nash’s strength elsewhere in District 32, which also includes Lauderdale County and part of Shelby County, was enough to win the seat overall.

The Republican nomination for the same post went uncontested. Charlotte Kelley took 6,006 votes (98.49 percent) in Tipton County. State executive committeeman was also uncontested on both sides: Republican Lee Mills took 5,901 votes (99.65 percent), and Democrat Gregory W. Patrick took 1,522 votes (98.58 percent).

School board and constables

School board seats in Districts 2, 4, 6 and 8 were uncontested, won respectively by independent Christopher Sage and Republicans Matt McCann, Audrey Eckel and Mike Gill. Most constable races were similarly uncontested; no candidate qualified in Districts 1, 5 and 7, leaving those seats to write-in results.

U.S. House, District 5

In the newly redrawn 5th Congressional District, where the county was placed earlier this year when the Tennessee General Assembly redrew congressional lines, former state Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles in the Republican primary, 1,577 votes to 1,311 (54.57 percent to 45.36 percent) in Tipton County. The Associated Press called the district-wide race for Hatcher, 53.2 percent to 46.8 percent, ending Ogles’ bid for a third term despite an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

On the Democratic side, Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder won both the Tipton County vote and the nomination district-wide. Molder took 213 votes in the county (32.13 percent), narrowly ahead of Yolanda Cooper-Sutton’s 190 votes (28.66 percent). Tipton County native DeVante R. Hill received 107 votes (16.14 percent), Rachel Hurley received 102 votes (15.38 percent) and Carrie Ann Iacomini received 50 votes (7.54 percent). Molder will face Hatcher in November.

Governor

Tipton County weighed in on a historic statewide primary for governor. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn won the Republican nomination, carrying Tipton County with 3,978 votes (55.75 percent) and winning statewide with 43.8 percent of the vote, ahead of U.S. Rep. John Rose’s 32.7 percent and state Rep. Monty Fritts’ 23.4 percent, according to the AP. In Tipton County, Rose finished second with 1,955 votes (27.40 percent), and Fritts received 1,172 votes (16.43 percent).

Memphis City Council member Jerri Green won the Democratic nomination, carrying Tipton County with 1,357 votes (63.80 percent) and winning statewide with more than 70 percent of the vote. In the county, Carnita Atwater followed with 416 votes (19.56 percent), Kevin Lee McCants received 136 votes (6.39 percent), Tim Cyr received 104 votes (4.89 percent) and Adam “Ditch” Kurtz received 96 votes (4.51 percent).

Blackburn and Green’s nominations mark two firsts for Tennessee: the first time a woman has won a major party’s nomination for governor, and the first time both major-party nominees for governor are women. The two will meet in the Nov. 3 general election to succeed term-limited Gov. Bill Lee.

U.S. Senate

Incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty ran unopposed in the Republican primary, drawing 6,572 votes, or 99.40 percent, in Tipton County.

Marquita Bradshaw led the Democratic Senate primary in the county with 1,065 votes (52.49 percent). Maria Brewer received 377 votes (18.58 percent), Kevin Lee McCants received 243 votes (11.98 percent), Diana Onyejiaka received 174 votes (8.58 percent) and Civil Miller-Watkins received 163 votes (8.03 percent).

U.S. House, District 8

Incumbent U.S. Rep. David Kustoff ran unopposed in the Republican primary for the 8th Congressional District, taking 3,787 votes, or 99.11 percent, in Tipton County.

Heidi Kuhn led the Democratic primary in the county with 660 votes (47.65 percent). Dewey Gordon Bryan received 270 votes (19.49 percent), Leonard Perkins received 232 votes (16.75 percent) and Jordan D. Hinders received 214 votes (15.45 percent).

Judicial retention

Tipton County voters retained all seven judges on the statewide judicial retention ballot by comfortable margins. On the Supreme Court, Justice Hixson was retained 6,013 votes to 1,740 (77.56 percent to 22.44 percent), and Justice Wagner was retained 6,022 votes to 1,686 (78.13 percent to 21.87 percent). On the Court of Appeals, Eastern Division Judge Phillips III was retained 5,929 votes to 1,664 (78.09 percent to 21.91 percent), while Western Division Judges Maroney and Smith were retained 5,884 votes to 1,817 (76.41 percent to 23.59 percent) and 6,227 votes to 1,538 (80.19 percent to 19.81 percent), respectively. On the Court of Criminal Appeals, Eastern Division Judges Street and Sword were retained 6,006 votes to 1,643 (78.52 percent to 21.48 percent) and 5,976 votes to 1,689 (77.96 percent to 22.04 percent), respectively.

Turnout

Countywide turnout reached 23.91 percent, with 9,620 of the county’s 40,227 registered voters casting ballots. The large majority of those votes, 6,822 (70.9 percent), came from walk-in early voting, held between July 17 and Aug. 1. Election Day turnout added 2,734 ballots (28.4 percent), while paper absentee voting accounted for just 64 ballots (0.7 percent).

Turnout varied widely by precinct. Southeast Covington posted the county’s highest turnout, 31.49 percent (1,303 of 4,138 registered voters), followed by Tipton West at 29.38 percent (1,208 of 4,112). Wilkinsville recorded the lowest turnout, 19.42 percent (867 of 4,464), just behind Southwest Tipton’s 20.54 percent (847 of 4,124). Atoka, the county’s largest precinct with 5,503 registered voters, posted below-average turnout at 22.51 percent (1,239 ballots).

By the numbers

A few numbers stood out in Thursday’s returns. Two of the county’s three federal Republican primaries were essentially uncontested: U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty drew 99.40 percent of the Tipton County vote in his primary, and U.S. Rep. David Kustoff drew 99.11 percent in his. Several countywide row offices, including county trustee, sheriff and county clerk, also went unopposed by a Democrat.

In County Commission District 3, where only two Republicans, Richard Kelley and John Anthony Mashburn, appeared on the ballot for two open seats, write-in votes still totaled 403 combined, or about a quarter of all votes cast in that race, even though the outcome was never in question. Former County Commissioner Steve Bringle, who was disqualified from running as a Republican, waged a vocal write-in campaign in the district. By comparison, the county’s eight other commission districts averaged just 8.25 combined write-in votes apiece.

Complete precinct-by-precinct results are available through the Tipton County Election Commission.