Knox County Democrats Steer Blue Wave West

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

Knox County Democrats Steer Blue Wave West 

Voters reject vouchers, far-right radicalism in key School Board, Tennessee House races 

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (August 2, 2024) --Results from Thursday’s Knox County general and state primary election show Democrats making significant gains in key West Knoxville districts.  

Democrat Patricia Fontenot-Ridley won her bid for School Board by five points in District 3 against a former chapter president of far-right group, Moms for Liberty, showing voters’ support of public education and rebuke of anti-government, anti-woke groups. In 2022, Stuart Hohl, who is now chair of the Knox County Democratic Party, lost his bid for County Commission in District 3 by 87 votes.  

Two years later, Fontenot-Ridley won every precinct, and the election with 53 percent of the vote. 

“The election results prove what we’ve been saying all along: Knox County will continue to flip blue, headed west down Interstate 40,” Hohl said. “I’m proud of our team, and we will take all this energy from our wins Thursday into flipping seats in the Tennessee General Assembly, and beyond. Knox County residents want and deserve more, and we will keep fighting to bring progress for them.” 

Shane Jackson’s election Thursday to County Commission by two points solidified Democrats’ hold on District 4 (Bearden, Northshore). School Board Member Katherine Bike flipped District 4 blue in 2022 with her election. 

Other notable Democratic strides Thursday: 

• Damon Rawls was elected to County Commission in District 1, keeping the district blue with a 76-24 win. 

• Commission Chairwoman Courtney Durrett won re-election with a whopping 62 percent of the vote. 

• Anne Templeton won 51 percent of the vote in a three-way race in North Knoxville’s District 2. 

• Tennessee House Rep. Sam McKenzie won a hard-fought primary challenge funded by special-interest groups. He remains in a strong position to maintain his seat in November. 

• Tennessee House Rep. Gloria Johnson—our hometown hero—pulled 90 percent of the vote in Knox County (70 percent statewide) to face off against Marsha Blackburn in November for U.S. Senate. 

Democrats contested more races than ever before in August, and we expect that trend to continue. 

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Media Contact: Stuart Hohl: chair@knoxcountydemocrats.org 

Knox Dems is the Knox County, Tennessee, Democratic Party. Knox County has shifted 14 points toward Democrats over the past decade, and since 2014, local Dems have made gains over the local GOP by flipping seats in each election cycle since.   

It’s not a matter of if Knox County flips blue, it’s when. 

2023 Summer Intern Program

This summer Standing Tall Strategies, founded by Sara Fischer and Gloria Johnson, lead a 6 week campaign management bootcamp to raise up the next generation of campaign staff for the 2024 election cycle. This class set a new standard in teaching political skills that are typically only learned on-the-job. Topics featured volunteer recruitment, voter contact, fundraising, and communication strategies; all taught from expert experience. I and 8 other interns were fortunate to participate in the course after receiving scholarships from the Knox County Democratic Party. In addition to weekly classes, interns were required to plan and host two events: a fundraiser and training event for KCDP Leadership.

The 2024 Party Preview Fundraiser took place on July 27th at Hi-Wire Brewing in South Knoxville. Over $9,500 was raised in ticket sales and donations! Sara Fischer and the Standing Tall Strategies Interns spoke about their program and got folks excited for the 2024 election season. In early August the interns also held a virtual training for KCDP Leadership. If you or anyone else are looking for campaign staff in the upcoming year, contact KCDP to recruit our newest trained!

- Makaela Webb

Davis Sponsors Voter Suppression Bill To End Early Voting

2/8/2023, Knoxville, TN – Newly-elected 18th District Representative Elaine Davis has joined extremists within days of her swearing in to the Tennessee General Assembly.

Straight out of the gate Davis introduced legislation to end all early voting in Tennessee via House Bill 1099. Once the media shed some light on her efforts to disenfranchise voters, she quickly retreated.

At a time when Tennessee ranks 47th in the nation in voter turnout, Davis’ bill would have deleted the section from the Tennessee law that establishes guidelines for early voting. For the last twelve years, the supermajority has enacted multiple laws to make it more difficult to vote in Tennessee. Davis quickly jumped on the far-right bandwagon with Republican election deniers by introducing this legislation intended to further suppress the vote in Knox County.

District 18 voter Doug Veum said, “It is really disappointing to see our new representative who was sent to Nashville to improve the lives of Knoxville families make voter suppression her number one priority. Our state legislature has already passed multiple laws to make it harder for citizens to participate in the democratic process. I just don’t understand why Rep. Davis wants to make it harder for working Tennesseans, seniors, and young adults to vote.”

After media reports, Davis backtracked on her bill and removed her name off of the legislation. Now she says that the bill doesn’t represent her intention in its current form.

It seems that Elaine Davis is either ignorant of how the legislative process works, ignorant to the wishes of her constituents who deeply support early voting, or she is simply just interested in suppressing the vote further in Tennessee because her favorite twice impeached and two time popular vote losing President blames his embarrassing failures on early voting and ballot access. Or perhaps…it is all three.