Joe Shults Defeats Rob Mathis In Primary; will Face A Challenge In August
Cocke County will have a new County Mayor when the new government is sworn in later this year after the August General Election. Joe Shults took a big lead with early voting and continued that momentum into election day. A low voter turnout for the primary did not help Rob Mathis and his bid to keep his office. Only 26% of registered voters cast a ballot in the primary election.
The final unofficial total had Shults winning 3733-2724. That is a 57-42% win. Shults won all but three of the 18 precincts on Tuesday. Rob Mathis won only the Parrottsville and Newport Grammar School precincts. West End was a tie with 47 votes each. Joe Shults won early voting by a 2,144-1,755 margin. Joe Shults will now face Chad Burchette in the General Election in August. Burchette is running as an independent.
In the other contested races, for Cocke County Clerk, Shalee McClure defeated Danielle Moore Smith 57.4% to 42.4% for the Republican nomination.
Circuit Court Clerk say Kristy Nease keep her job as she defeated Jennifer Arms 66.3 to 33.6%.
For Road Superintendent, Dwayne “Bullet” McAllister wins a challenge by Kenneth Ford, 53.1 to 46.7%.
There is no Democrat challenger for the above offices in August.
Sheriff CJ Ball, Trustee Mitch Fines and Register of Deeds, Mark McGaha all ran unopposed in the republican primary. There is no democrat challenger on the ballot in August for those offices.
These results unofficial as they have not yet been certified.
| 2026 Cocke County Primary Unofficial Election Results From the Cocke County Election Commission |
| TOTALS | Vote % | |
| COUNTY MAYOR (R) | ||
| Rob Mathis | 2724 | 42.02% |
| Joe E. Shults | 3733 | 57.58% |
| Write In Votes | 26 | 0.40% |
| SHERIFF (R) | ||
| CJ Ball | 5829 | 99.39% |
| Write In Votes | 36 | 0.61% |
| TRUSTEE (R) | ||
| Mitch Fine | 5724 | 99.70% |
| Write In Votes | 17 | 0.30% |
| COUNTY CLERK (R) | ||
| Shalee McClure | 3670 | 57.48% |
| Danielle Moore Smith | 2709 | 42.43% |
| Write In Votes | 6 | 0.09% |
| SESSIONS COURT CLERK (R) | ||
| Brenda Ramsey | 5498 | 99.76% |
| Write In Votes | 13 | 0.24% |
| ROAD SUPERINTENDENT (R) | ||
| Dwayne Bullet McCallister | 3384 | 53.12% |
| Kenneth Ford | 2976 | 46.72% |
| Write In Votes | 10 | 0.16% |
| CIRCUIT COURT CLERK (R) | ||
| Jennifer E. Arms | 2022 | 33.60% |
| Kristy L. Nease | 3991 | 66.32% |
| Write In Votes | 5 | 0.08% |
| REGISTER OF DEEDS (R) | ||
| Mark H. McGaha | 5392 | 99.89% |
| Write In Votes | 6 | 0.11% |
| CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE – PART 4 (R) | ||
| Jeremy Ball | 4762 | 99.44% |
| Write In Votes | 27 | 0.56% |
| CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE – PART 5 (R) | ||
| Adrienne Waters Ogle | 4313 | 99.58% |
| Write In Votes | 18 | 0.42% |
| CLB DIST 3. POST 2 (D) | ||
| Al Pier | 27 | 100.00% |
| Write in Votes | 0 | 0.00% |
