Voter Turnout Low For Election; Blackburn Dominates

Turnout was extremely low on Thursday for election day. It is worth noting that all offices on the County General Election Ballot were running unopposed. However, more people early voted than went out to the polls yesterday. According to the Cocke County Elections Commission, 872 voters went to their local precinct and cast their ballot on Thursday. When you add in the 95 absentee ballots and the 1,335 who early voted, that leaves a total of just 2,302 voters who exercised their right to vote. That is less than 10%, or 9.3% of the registered voters in Cocke County. Voter turnout is expected to be much higher on November 5 for the state and federal General Election, which is be highlighted by the presidential election which at this time will be between Vice President Kamala Harris on the Democrat side and former president Donald Trump on the Republican side.

While voter turnout was lower, US Senator Marsha Blackburn did well in Cocke County for the republican primary. Blackburn garnered nearly 95% of the vote with just 5.3% voting for challenger Tres Whittum to be the republican on the ballot for the US Senate race in November. On the democrat side, Knoxville democrat and current state representative Gloria Johnson was the overwhelming favorite with democrat voters. Johnson finished with 81.2% of the vote. Her closest challenger was Marquita Bradshaw with less then 14% of the vote. Statewide, Marsha Blackburn won the republican primary over Tres Whittum by a landslide, 89.5 to 10.5%. Gloria Johnson will be the democrat nominee as she won with 70.2% of the vote of democrats statewide.

Kevin Jenkins won the democrat primary for the US House District 1 with nearly 68% of the vote. He will take on incumbent Diana Harshbarger on November 5. Harshbarger ran unopposed on the republican side.