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BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR STAFF
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
The 2020 Election Day sparked something in people across the nation unlike nothing else and that wasn’t more evident than right here in Carter County as out of 36,502 registered voters, 67.43 percent or 24,612 of those voters turned out to cast their ballots either in the 22 precincts throughout the county, early voting, or paper absentee.

Breaking those numbers down even further reveals that 10,518 voted early, 1,795 were paper absentee, and 12,299 voted on Election Day.

In local races, three Elizabethton City Councilmen ran unopposed for their seats as Kim Birchfield led the way garnering 3,310 votes followed by Curt Alexander (3,232) and Jeff Treadway (2,973).

The race for Elizabethton City Municipal Judge which saw Jason Holly, appointed by City Council after the passing of TJ Little, to be unseated in the August Primary by Teresa Murray Smith for the unexpired term of Little only to be elected for a four-year term after having his name added to the ballot for the November election.

Holly received 2,827 votes to Murray Smith’s 2,043.

Three seats were available on the Elizabethton Board of Education during the election with five candidates vying for the seats.

When the dust settled, Coach Mike Wilson led all candidates with 3,046 votes followed by incumbent Phil Isaacs (2,540) and Jamie Bass Schaff claiming the third seat with 2,143.

Gen Treadway received 1,900 total votes and Jeffrey Bohlke collected 1,098.

In the race for the County Commission race in District 7, it was a close race as Daniel McInturff outdistanced his challenger Jimmy Pierce by 126 votes, 1,329 to 1,203.

Watauga saw three candidates running for City Commissioner as Dennis Hicks came out on top by one vote over Richard Dale McCracken, 105-104. Timothy Scott Peer followed with 85.

Incumbent John B. Holsclaw Jr had no problem in returning to Nashville as the Tennessee House Representative for District 4 defeating Democratic challenger Bobby Patrick Harrell by a hefty 63.14 percent garnering 14,610 votes to Harrell’s 3,290.

Scotty Campbell ran unopposed in the Tennessee House District 3 race but getting 3,057 complimentary votes in the election.

Jon C. Lundberg carried the race for the Tennessee Senate District 4 race in the county earning 3,758 votes to challenger Amber Riddle’s 667.

One of the biggest draws to the polls in 2020 was the race for the President of the United States between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Trump handily carried Carter County nabbing 19,574 votes to Biden’s 4,526. The Jorgensen/Cohen ticket was a distant third at 242 votes. It was interesting to note that Kanye West received 33 votes in the county.

The results were pretty much identical for the Republican candidates in the race for the U.S. House District 1 and United States Senate seats.

Diana Harshbarger outdistanced herself from her Democractic challenger Blair Walsingham 18,121 to 4,480. Independent Steve Holder pulled 721 votes. Harshbarger takes the seat of Dr. Phil Roe who decided not to run for re-election.

Bill Hagerty soundly defeated Marquita Bradshaw 18,584 to 4,124 to take the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by current Senator Lamar Alexander who also decided not to run in the 2020 election.