Wilson County elects new members of city governments
Nov. 9—More than 81,000 ballots were cast in Wilson County for Tuesday's election.
The Wilson County Election Commission reported a 74.66% voter turnout over the course of the election, with 81,693 ballots cast in total as Donald J. Trump was elected 47th president of the United States.
Locally, Mt. Juliet, Lebanon and Watertown elected new members to their city governments.
Mayoral races across the county were uncontested and saw incumbent Rick Bell re-elected in Lebanon, incumbent James Maness re-elected in Mt. Juliet and incumbent Mike Jennings re-elected in Watertown.
Four candidates ran for the Lebanon City Council, with one contested race across three seats. Geri Ashley was elected as the new alderman for Ward 2 with 709 total votes. Pamela Wiggins, her opponent, received 641 votes.
"I just wanted to thank everybody who voted for me and I'm just very, very humbled," Ashley said. "As someone who's never been involved in politics, I'm humbled that I was elected. For those who didn't vote for me, I still stand by my commitment that I want to represent each and every person in this ward. Regardless of race, socio-economic status, I want everybody in this ward to have a voice.
Ward 1 incumbent Joey Carmack ran uncontested and was re-elected with 3,408 votes and incumbent Tick Bryant was re-elected in Ward 5 with 2,595 votes.
The contested races for the Mt. Juliet City commission were in District 1 and District 3. Art Giles was elected to the District 1 seat, receiving 2,076 votes. Incumbent Ray Justice received 1,773 votes, and Vince King received 723.
Giles shared the following statement on his campaign's social media page.
"Wow. I am speechless! Thank you residents of District 1 for electing me as your commissioner. I am humbled and look forward to serving my constituents. I want to thank God first, my wife, Jill, and our sons Blake and Josh and the rest of our family for their support during the campaign. There are many local folks to thank as well including those who held signs, etc. I also want to say thanks to Ray Justice and Vince King for a clean, positive campaign. I look forward to serving as your commissioner. Let me know how I can help you. I'm here to serve you!"
Incumbent Scott Hefner won in District 3, with 3,016 votes. His opponent, Tommy Hibbett, received 1,455 votes.
"I'm blessed and honored that the citizens of District 3 trusted me enough to re-elect me," Hefner said. "I'm going to continue to listen and fight and deliver as I've done for the past four years for the people of District 3, and look forward to working with the commission and new commissioner Art Giles in ensuring that the city of Mt. Juliet is a great place to live, work, play and worship."
Voters were asked to choose three aldermen-at-large to serve on the Watertown City Council. Incumbents Steve Casey, Laura Lea Cromer and April Pearson were re-elected in an uncontested race.
Incumbent Marsha Blackburn (R) won the United States Senate seat for Tennessee over opponent Gloria Johnson (D).
Incumbent Andy Ogles (R) won the United States House Representatives seat for District 5. Incumbent John Rose (R) won the house seat in District 6.
Incumbent Michael Hale (R) won the race for the District 40 seat in the Tennessee State House of Representatives. Incumbents Clark Boyd (R) won the District 46 seat and Susan Lynn (R) won the District 57 seat.
