Knox County Commission Primaries Roundup

There was never a great deal of suspense Tuesday night at GOP headquarters at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, mainly because almost all of the county primaries were over before the room ever had a chance to fill up. As early voting totals debuted and candidates checked in with campaign workers in the precincts, everything felt done before even one precinct officially showed up on the a large projector screen off to one side of the stage. "I think those chickens laid those eggs already," mused Jan Brown, wife of incumbent Mike Brown, as her husband confirmed totals on his phone.

The upside was that there were plenty of smiles and early congratulations to go around. Here's a roundup of what the winners from each contested seat had to say during the evening, with their photos (taken by Frank Carlson) posted beneath their quotes.
R. Larry Smith, Republican nominee for the 7th District, on how he won: "We started early, knocked on a lot of doors. I knocked on over 3,300 doors over a 26 week period. I raised my money really early. I raised my money back in September and October, I believe it was, and started knocking on doors in November.  Bottom line was, I had the better message. What the voters wanted to hear--they wanted a commissioner that they knew on a first name basis, that they could know, that they could trust, and that knowing the fact that when they went and had a vote before them, that their commissioner is going to vote the way that they want them to vote."







Dave Wright, Republican nominee for the 8th District, on how he felt about his chances before precinct totals had begun coming in: "I've already been to the cheese wagon here, and I would take another chicken wing and say, Things are going to be great tonight. I'm really looking forward to commission as it continues to change and as politics in Knox County evolve, I'm happy to be a part of that reform."

And on Ed Shouse taking the 11th district nomination and his concern about West Knoxville influence: "I believe it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, and it's what's coming to pass," Wright said. "I would have preferred Bud [Armstrong] because at large, one from east, at large, one from west, to me would have been a lot better than all this representation coming from out west. That's the thing I've opposed all along."

Mike Brown, 9th district: "There were some good crossover votes, particularly in the mayor's race, but I had a lot of crossover votes on my own. So the fact that there was not a lot of Democratic opposition allowed my Democratic friends to vote in the primary who would have normally had to wait to vote in the general."

Asked what made the difference ultimately, Ed Shouse, nominee for the 11th district, replied, "Probably that Metro Pulse article. No,  I think people looked at our qualifications and I'm a businessman and my opponent's basically worked in government all his life--and that's a good profession--but I think you need some private business experience. And of course I've got some financial background. I was in banking, I was in railroading, I served on the pension board and investment committee at some very critical financial times for the county. And I think people looked at my background and hopefully just wanted to give me the opportunity to try to work through this financial crisis."

On fears that his nomination means West Knoxville will be overrepresented: "I will certainly do my best to represent [county residents] whether they live south, north, east or west, or inner city.