Image Credit: Johnson City, TN – City Government / Facebook & Canva
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
November 5th’s Red Wave brought in two more Republicans for a Tennessee School Board.
Two independent incumbents lost their reelection bids for the Johnson City School Board on Tuesday when Republican newcomers Celia Martin and Rick Smith won their races. The two join fellow Republican incumbent Ginger Carter who ran for her first term in 2020.
Incumbents Herb Greenlee and Beth Simpson lacked the backing of a party in the second school board election since Tennessee law allowed school board races to be partisan.
Carter, Martin, and Smith will join the four board members who were not up for reelection this year: Tom Hager, Kathy Hall, Jonathan Kinnick, and Paula Treece.
The three seats that were up for grabs had eight candidates vying for the positions on the board of a district that is one of the most well-funded and academically successful in the state.
Along with the three Republicans that ran were the two independent incumbents and three Democrats, Ryan Berkley, Sam Pettyjohn, and Zaire Smith.
Johnson City has 11 schools in all, eight elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school. Over the past several years, the district has posted the highest standardized test scores for elementary and high school in the Northeast part of the state.
In a similarly crowded race for city commission, nine candidates for three seats, voters in Johnson City reelected two incumbent commissioners – Todd Fowler and Joe Wise – and elected newcomer Greg Cox.
While elections for city commission are non-partisan, Fowler, who will be serving his third term on the commission, received the support of both the state and county Republican parties.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
One Response
In Williamson County we had six school board slots up for election and CONSERVATIVE Republicans swept to victory in five of them. That, together with the victory of Bill Petty in Dist. 10 of the county commission over centrist/tepid conservative Republican backed independent makes 2024 a spectacularly great year for Williamson County conservatives.