Good Thursday evening! This is The Weekender, a final look at this week’s news from the Independent Herald. The Daybreaker (Monday) and The Weekender (Thursday evening) are our two news-first newsletters. We publish several other newsletters throughout the week, as well as our regular E-Edition on Thursday and our Varsity E-Edition on Sunday (during sports season). If you’d like to adjust your subscription to include (or exclude) any of these newsletters, do so here. If you haven’t subscribed, please consider doing so!
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Buckeye Home Medical Equipment. Serving Scott County and several other communities in the Upper Cumberland region, Buckeye is a full-line DME providing home health equipment to its patients.
Scott County stays deep red in tumultuous midterm election
HUNTSVILLE | The biggest takeaway from Tuesday’s mid-term election in Scott County? While much of the country — including reliable conservative strongholds — turned blue, Scott County remains ruby red.
Republican candidates fared well in Scott County on Tuesday, capturing the lion’s share of the 4,596 votes that were cast. This county, which has twice voted for President Donald Trump by the largest margin of any county in Tennessee and has not supported a Democrat for president since the Civil War, withstood the forecasted blue wave that actually became more of a blue tsunami as Tuesday night unfolded.
The Republican candidates fared well across Tennessee, but especially well locally. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican nominee for governor, received 64% of the vote in Scott County to 19% for Democrat nominee Jerri Green. Conservative independent candidate David Hatley received 15% of the vote locally.
Blackburn was narrowly elected Tennessee’s next governor, succeeding Bill Lee. According to unofficial results reported by the Tennessee Secretary of State, Blackburn captured 46% of the vote (957,136) to Green’s 43% (902,953). There had been significant debate about whether Blackburn, who was viewed as a largely unpopular candidate, could win the race with less than 50% of the vote. However, independent candidates did not perform as well as expected, allowing Blackburn to escape the victor. Hatley received 9% of the vote statewide, while independent Lauren Pinkston received just 1% of the vote. Polls had consistently suggested that independent candidates might top 20% of the total vote count.
Blackburn’s 64% of the vote in Scott County ranked 10th among Tennessee’s 95 counties. She fared best in Wayne County, with 71% of the vote there. Fentress County gave her 68% of its vote, which ranked fourth statewide.
In the race for U.S. Senate, where incumbent Republican Bill Hagerty was not viewed as being in danger of losing his seat, he received 81% of the vote in Scott County. Democrat Marquita Bradshaw, a perennial candidate, received 17% of the vote locally.
Statewide, Hagerty won re-election with 55% of the vote, while Bradshaw finished with 43%.
As was the case in the gubernatorial race, Wayne County ranked as the state’s reddest county. Hagerty captured 83% of the vote there, followed by Fentress County at 82% and Scott County.
Johnny Garrett, the Republican from Robertson County, will represent Scott County in Congress, winning the 6th Congressional District race to replace John Rose, who launched an unsuccessful bid for governor.
Garrett, who defeated Rose’s chief of staff, former Congressman Van Hilleary, in the August primary, received 80% of the vote in Scott County, while Democrat Mike Croley received 18% of the vote. Independent Christopher Monday received 2% of the vote locally.
District-wide, Garrett finished with 51% of the vote to Croley’s 48%.
It was a solid night for Republican congressional candidates across the Volunteer State. Long-time incumbent Scott DesJerlais lost his re-election bid to Democrat Victoria Broderick in District 4, falling by a less than 300-vote margin. Elsewhere, Republicans were elected to all eight remaining congressional seats — including in the newly-redrawn Ninth District, where Brent Taylor narrowly outpolled Justin Pearson, 50% to 49%. That race became especially competitive after Taylor became embroiled in a late-game sexting scandal.
In the 38th House District race for state representative, Scott County Democrat Seth McMillan finished with 21% of the vote locally, while Republican Kelly Keisling was successful in his re-election bid with 79% of the vote. District-wide, Keisling received 81% of the vote to McMillan’s 19%.
With votes still being counted Wednesday morning, it was apparent that Democrats have reclaimed control of Congress, taking majorities in both the House and the Senate. In fact, Democrats will have at least 54 Senate seats in January, and perhaps one or two more. While not a filibuster-proof majority — which would require 60 votes — that will easily be enough to block any nominee that Trump makes over his last two years in the White House.
Democrats have also picked up at least 30 seats in the House of Representatives, and held a 236 to 148 advantage there early Wednesday with many races yet to be decided. The gains in the lower chamber almost certainly mean that impeachment proceedings against the president will begin anew in January. Robert Garcia, D-Cali., the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, had a two-word message to the Trump administration late Tuesday night: “Lawyer up.” With majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats will control committees, giving them the power to call hearings and issue subpoenas compelling witnesses to testify.
Democrats also flipped the governor’s mansion in at least four states on Tuesday.
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Wilson is new mayor of Winfield
WINFIELD | Doug Wilson Jr. has been elected the new mayor of Winfield, capturing better than 70% of the town’s vote during Tuesday’s election.
Wilson, who is currently an alderman for the town, will replace Jerry Dodson. Dodson did not seek another term as mayor.
Wilson ran against Bob Strunk in Tuesday’s election, capturing 172 votes to Strunk’s 69.
Melvin Stephens was successful in his bid for re-election to the town’s board of aldermen, capturing 158 votes. Robyn McBroom, the town’s retired recorder and former County Commissioner for the 5th District, also won a seat on the board, with 139 votes. Challenger Cody Cox finished with 86 votes in his political debut. Harold Chambers, an incumbent alderman, did not seek re-election.
Because Wilson is a member of the board of aldermen, the town will choose a replacement to fill his unexpired term. That decision will be made collectively by the four board members — Wilson, Stephens, McBroom, and Chad Jones, with the selected candidate serving until the next election in November 2028.
Mountain People’s Health Councils offers general practice dentistry for all ages, using the latest technology for dental imagery and digital scanning. Sliding scale fees apply! Learn more. (Sponsored.)
ICYMI
Threads of Life: This week’s Threads of Life newsletter is in remembrance of Buddy Jeffers, Janet Watson, Marsha Pike, Craig Goad, Gary Stephens, and Norma Jean Potter. » Read It
Echoes in Time: This week’s Echoes in Time newsletter takes a look back at the Glenmary community through the years. » Read It
The Weekend
🌥️ Weather: A nice weekend is on tap. There’s only a slight chance of isolated showers Friday. Otherwise, we’ll see plenty of sun Saturday and Sunday, with temperatures going from the mid 50s on Saturday to near 60 degrees on Sunday. Check out our daily Eye to the Sky updates on our Facebook page— published each morning at 7 a.m. on the dot.
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⛪︎ Featured Church
Foster Crossroads
Denomination: Baptist (United)
Pastor: David Gibson
Address: 523 Foster Cross Road, Oneida
Services
Sunday School: 10 a.m.
Sunday Morning: 11:15 a.m.
Saturday: 7 p.m.
» See the complete Church Directory, and thank you to our sponsors of the Church Directory.
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📅 Community Calendar
• Saturday: First Saturday night services will be held at Capitol Hill Missionary Baptist Church (6:30 p.m.), East Robbins Missionary Baptist Church (6 p.m.), Norma Missionary Baptist Church (6 p.m.), and Black Creek Crossroads Missionary Baptist Church (7 p.m.). For more information, see our Church Directory at indherald.com.
• Sunday: Celebrate Recovery, a 12-step program designed to help with addiction, co-dependency and domestic abuse, will be hosted by Fire & Purpose Ministries from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 27192 Scott Highway in Winfield. There will be food, fellowship, praise and worship. Childcare is provided.
The Community Calendar is presented weekly by Citizens Gas Utility District. You can help prevent pipeline damage and leaks by calling 811 before doing any excavating or demolition and submitting a utility locate request. Visit citizensgastn.com.
Scenic Sale!
This week’s sale items at Scenic Foods in Huntsville! The sale continues through Tuesday. Sponsored content.
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Our Newsletters:
• Monday morning: The Daybreaker (news & the week ahead)
• Tuesday: Echoes from the Past (stories of our history)
• Wednesday: Threads of Life (obituaries)
• Thursday evening: The Weekender (news & the weekend)
• Friday: Friday Features (beyond the news)
• Sunday: Varsity (a weekly sports recap)