Halford, Stevens win primaries

By Crystal Burns

 

State Representative Curtis Halford and State Senator John Stevens won their respective Republican primaries Thursday.

In Gibson County, Halford garnered 3,886 votes, while Christine Warrington received 759 votes. District 79 also includes a portion of Carroll County. Overall, Halford received 5,484 votes for 83.6%. Warrington received a total of 1,076 votes.

No candidates qualified for the Democratic primary for the District 79 race, but Houston Butler Jr. of Trenton has qualified as a write-in candidate to run against Halford in the November general election. Butler’s name will not appear on the ballot, and voters wishing to vote for him must write in his name.

Stevens received 2,615 votes in Gibson County and 13,059 overall in District 24, earning 61% of the vote. Challenger Casey Hood received 1,618 votes in Gibson County and 8,264 overall. District 24 includes Benton, Carroll, Gibson, Henry, Obion, and Weakley counties.

No candidates qualified for the Democratic primary for District 24, but Yahweh Yahweh of Humboldt has qualified as an Independent candidate and will run against Stevens in November.

In the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, Bill Hagerty received 2,673 votes in Gibson County and 330,938 overall, securing just over 50% of the vote. His nearest competitor, Manny Sethi, garnered 1,416 votes in Gibson County and 256,775 statewide to capture 39% of the vote.

In the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Marquita Bradshaw carried Gibson County with 458 votes and the state with 117,282 votes for about 35%.

Bradshaw and Hargerty will face off in the November general election, vying for the seat of the retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander.

U.S. Congressman David Kustoff received 4,202 complimentary votes in Gibson County and 70,647 in District 8 in the Republican primary.

While Hollis Skinner of Jackson won his former home county of Gibson with 545 votes in the Democratic primary for District 8, Erika Stotts Pearson received the nomination with 14,487 total votes in the district. Pearson garnered 307 votes in Gibson County. Skinner received a total of 3,382 votes districtwide.

Pearson will face Kustoff in November.

District 28 Public Defender Rachele Gibson, who was appointed by the governor in 2019, received 4,271 votes in Gibson County for the unexpired term. She garnered 1,452 votes in Crockett County and 1,855 votes in Hawyood County for a total of 7,578 votes.

Steven A. Brasher received 332 complimentary votes for the unexpired term of District 11 Position 1 in the Gibson County Commission. However, Brasher has moved since qualifying for the election, and will not be able to serve on the commission.

Andrea Knight received 284 complimentary votes for the unexpired term of District 11 Position 2.

Assessor of Property Gary Pascall received 4,292 complimentary votes.

School boards

Bradford Special School District voters selected two trustees from three candidates. Current board member Mark A. Hampton received 344 votes in the close race. Christopher Johnstone edged John Dawson for the remaining seat, garnering 303 votes to Dawson’s 264.

The Gibson County Special School District had one contested race and one uncontested race. In District 1, Scott Ball edged Kris Holden with 140 votes to Holden’s 109.

An incident occurred when Holden voted Thursday at his precinct in Kenton. An election worker mistakenly gave Holden the wrong ballot. Gibson County Administrator of Elections Julieanne Hart said election officials were able to correct the mistake by phone.

“It’s unfortunate,” Hart said. “It dropped [Holden’s] confidence in the whole process.”

In the uncontested race in District 5, John L. Campbell II received 108 complimentary votes.

The Kenton Special School District had three uncontested races on the ballot. Gregory Boucher received 157 complimentary votes for the Gibson County position. Mike Farrar received 158 votes for the Kenton City position, and Dennis Littleton received 153 complimentary votes for the Obion County position.

The Trenton Special School District had two uncontested races on the ballot. Longtime board member Dr. Mark Harper received 773 complimentary votes for Position 1, and newcomer Katie Dinwiddie received 729 complimentary votes for Position 4.

All results are unofficial until they are certified.

Early voting

Nearly 2,500 Gibson Countians voted early by walk-in or absentee ballots. The county has two locations for early voting. In Trenton, 1,170 early votes were cast, with Medina totaling 865 early votes.

Total ballots cast were 6,152. Voter turnout was at 20.66%. There were 29,777 registered voters eligible to vote in the August elections.