General Election: Carter County elects Barnett as mayor
Published 11:01 pm Thursday, August 2, 2018
After a year-long journey, Rusty Barnett finally reached the electoral mountaintop Thursday night.
“It is finally behind us,” said Barnett after receiving 7,927 votes during the Carter County general election to become the County’s next mayor. “It’s been a long year, and I am ready to go to work.”
Receiving 77 percent of the votes, Barnett carried every one of Carter County’s 22 precincts.
“I am ecstatic, and words just can’t describe the feeling,” said Barnett at the Star Fitness Complex where he, along with friends and family, watched the votes roll in Thursday. “We went through this in May, and I had good support from my team. And this time, I even had more support.
“I want to thank everyone that voted for me,” added Barnett. “And to the ones that didn’t vote for me, like I said last time, I want them to give me a chance.”
The incumbent mayor, Leon Humphrey, after losing the Republican Primary to Barnett in May, launched a write-in bid leading up to the general election. Thursday, 2,312 write-in votes were cast.
Barnett started out the evening with a strong lead as he picked up 3,315 of the early and absentee votes with 1,635 of those being write-ins.
Come September 1, Barnett will officially take over the office of Carter County Mayor and said he is ready to get to work.
“I will not try and do everything by myself,” said Barnett. “I will have good people surrounding me. I have already talked to several people who are ready to get to work with me. I feel everyone is ready to get on the same page and move forward now.”
Social media fueled a heated campaign season, and Barnett said he is now ready to see everyone come together. And that is why the first thing on his agenda come September will be to hold a “meet-and-greet” with officials and commissioners.
“What I want to do as soon as possible in September is call a meeting with newly elected officials, commissioners, anyone who wants to come,” said Barnett. “I feel it’s time for everyone to work together and move forward.”
