December 13, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
The stage is set for the 2020 elections as far as the Assessor of Property and Constable races are concerned along with the Special Election to fill the unexpired term of former Criminal Court Judge David Patterson.
Noon Thursday (December 12) was the qualifying deadline for those races.
The DeKalb County Democratic Primary on March 3 will be uncontested. The primary is being held in conjunction with the Tennessee Presidential Preference Primary for both the Democratic and Republican Parties.
Tom Duggin is unopposed for the Democratic nomination for Assessor of Property. He will face Incumbent Assessor of Property Shannon Cantrell in the DeKalb County General Election in August. Cantrell, who was first elected to the office in 2016, is a Republican and was nominated for the race by the DeKalb County GOP party last Saturday.
Six Democrats are running for Constable in the March 3 Primary and all are unooposed including:
Waylon Kyle in the 1st District
Darrell Johnson in the 2nd District
Paul Cantrell in the 4th District
Mark Milam in the 5th District
Jason Brown in the 6th District
Johnny King in the 7th District.
Cantrell, Milam and King are incumbents seeking re-election.
There is no Democratic candidate for Constable in the 3rd District but Democratic Incumbent Travis Bryant, who has switched parties, will be a candidate for re-election to the office of 3rd District Constable in the August County General Election but as a Republican this time. The local GOP party nominated him for the race last Saturday.
Meanwhile Wesley Bray, a Republican, will be unopposed in the GOP primary and in the August Special Election to fill the unexpired term of former Criminal Court Judge David Patterson which ends August 31, 2022. Although primaries will be held by both parties, March 3 no other Republican or Democrat qualified for the office by the noon deadline Thursday in either of the seven counties in the 13th Judicial District.
Patterson, a Republican, retired from the bench on June 30 and Bray, a Cookeville attorney, was appointed by Governor Bill Lee in July to succeed Patterson until the August 2020 Special Election.
Voter registration deadline—February 3, 2020
Early Voting period—Feb. 12 through February 25, 2020.