Election Qualifying Deadline: Who’s In and Who’s Out
Courtney Johnston gets in GOP primary against Andy Ogles
By Stephen ElliottApril 5, 2024
Thursday marked the qualifying deadline for candidates hoping to run in August primaries for state and federal offices.
Here’s a rundown of who made the cut:
5th Congressional District
Eyes were on Metro Councilmember Courtney Johnston, who told the Banner last month that she was considering a Republican primary challenge of U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles in the district that includes part of Nashville and Williamson County, plus Maury and other counties to Nashville’s south. She turned in a qualifying petition on Thursday and her signatures are considered “pending” by state election officials.
Tom Guarente, a Brentwood software executive, also qualified to run in the Republican primary. Would-be candidates and operatives have told the Banner the best hope for unseating Ogles is to have just one GOP challenger facing him, and candidates still have a week to withdraw from the ballot.
On the Democratic side, Nashville’s Maryam Abolfazli, Kiran Sreepada of College Grove and Arnie Malham of Nashville qualified for the primary ballot.
6th Congressional District
U.S. Rep. John Rose (R-Cookeville) qualified to run for reelection in the district that includes part of Nashville and counties to the east. Rose confirmed to the Tennessee Journal this week that he is considering running for governor in 2026.
The district favors Republicans, but Lore Bergman of Hendersonville, Clay Faircloth of Nashville and Cyril Focht of Cookeville qualified to run in the Democratic primary.
7th Congressional District
U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Ashland City) threw a wrench in the race for the 7th District — parts of Nashville and Williamson County, plus Montgomery County and other areas to the east of Nashville — when he announced in February that he would not run for reelection, saying “our fight is not here within Washington, our fight is with Washington.” Less than a month later, he changed his mind and reentered the race. Several potential Republican successors pulled petitions when it looked like Green was out, but as of the qualifying deadline just Green and Caleb Stack of Pleasant View are on the ballot for the August primary.
Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry is unopposed in the Democratic primary. She spoke to the Banner about her campaign last month.
State House
The lone open seat in Nashville’s state House delegation is District 60, the Old Hickory and Hermitage district where Democratic Rep. Darren Jernigan is not running for reelection.
Democrats qualifying for the August primary include Tyler Brasher, Shaundelle Brooks and John Parrish. On the Republican side, Chad Bobo, recently of House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s office, and Christopher Huff will face off for the nomination.
The rest of Nashville’s Democratic state House incumbents qualified for the ballot and are likely to win reelection.
Democratic Rep. Bo Mitchell will face Republican Jennifer Frensley Webb, recently elected to the Metro Council, in House District 50. Democratic Rep. Bob Freeman in District 56 will face a primary challenger in Nick Forster-Benson.
State Senate
The lone Nashville state Senate seat up for reelection is District 20, which includes Davidson County’s wealthy southwestern region and rings around the county’s west, north and east. Sen. Heidi Campbell is unopposed in the Democratic primary. She will face Republican Wyatt Rampy, a real estate professional who ran for state House in 2022.
U.S. Senate
There is no real threat to Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s chances of securing the Republican nomination for reelection in August, though she is facing nominal opposition.
Tennessee pornographic website age-verification bill shifts enforcement to AG
(The Center Square) – A bill that would require adult pornographic websites to verify the age of those viewing the website in Tennessee advanced in the Senate on Tuesday after a change to lower the costs of its implementation.
Senate Bill 1792 initially had a fiscal note saying it would cost the state more than $4 million in the first year and then $2 million each year after that.
The amended version of the bill drops that estimate to just less than $30,000 annually for increased costs of incarceration. The bill requires websites to verify the age of those viewing content on the site through either a photo that matches the identification of someone 18 or older or private transactional information that does the same
The significant change that caused the cost drop was eliminating the Department of Homeland Security from overseeing and enforcing the law. Instead, it puts the Tennessee attorney general in charge of bringing action against the commercial entity publishing the adult content.
Sen. Becky Massey, R-Knoxville, said that Rep. Patsy Hazlewood worked with the attorney general’s office to alter the bill.
The Department of Homeland Security had estimated that it would cost $3 million to create a cyber forensics lab to investigate offenses. The cost includes the lab, equipment, storage, software licensing and training.
Tennessee Senate passes bill to do away with the Achievement School District
Marta W. Aldrich Chalkbeat Tennessee April 5, 2024
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters
A proposal to shift low-performing schools from Tennessee’s sputtering takeover and turnaround district to other state-approved but locally managed intervention models passed unanimously Monday in the full Senate.
The bill, which is awaiting action in the full House, seeks to phase out the Achievement School District, the state’s most ambitious and aggressive school improvement model, by the end of 2025-26 school year.
It also would strip the state education commissioner’s authority to take over neighborhood schools that are performing academically in the bottom 5%. Under the ASD, the state typically assigned those schools to charter operators to run.
In place of the ASD, the bill would create a school improvement model designed to foster more collaboration between the local district and the state education department.
More:Tennessee could end the Achievement School District. What would it mean for Memphis?
Tennessee’s education chief would have authority to direct a local district to choose from three turnaround approaches — under a charter operator, a public university, or an independent turnaround expert — for each of its low-performing “priority” schools.
The turnaround work would be locally managed, but with state oversight. For starters, the state would have to approve local districts’ turnaround choices.
“The ASD has not worked for some time, which we can all agree (on),” said Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Memphis Democrat who is co-sponsoring the legislation with Rep. Antonio Parkinson, also of Memphis.
“This will put the control back in the hands of the locals,” she said on the Senate floor.
The bill is one of several legislative proposals seeking to address the failures of the ASD, created under a 2010 state law as part of a package that helped Tennessee win a $500 million federal grant in the Race to the Top competition.
Parkinson’s companion bill has similar goals.
Meanwhile, GOP leaders in the House are pressing for a massive private-school voucher bill that includes a provision to phase out the ASD on July 1, 2026.
All three measures advanced this year after several top Republicans in the GOP-controlled legislature acknowledged that the state-run district isn’t working and should be replaced.
Not only did removing struggling schools from local governance fail to improve student outcomes, but most ASD schools also performed no better than low-performing schools that received no intervention, according to researchers. Among the challenges, the state-run district struggled with high teacher turnover and significant community backlash, especially in Memphis, which became the hub of the ASD’s work.
The ASD, which had a peak of 33 schools in 2016, continues to shrink, especially since 2022, as schools began to complete their prescribed 10 years under the model. Currently, 13 schools are left in its portfolio, the last of which will complete their charter contracts at the end of 2025-26 school year.
Plans to Bring NASCAR Back to Nashville Not Dead Yet
Conversations ongoing with O’Connell administration as charter revision push approaches unprecedented petition effort
By Stephen ElliottApril 3, 2024
Mayor Freddie O’Connell built much of last year’s bid for higher office on the back of opposition to a plan for the city to help fund the construction of a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans on city-owned land on the banks of the Cumberland River.
Perhaps it seemed obvious then that he would also oppose a plan to help fund the renovation of the city-owned Fairgrounds Speedway to pave the way for the return of NASCAR in Nashville.
Now, despite some assumptions that John Cooper’s departure from the mayor’s office meant the death of the NASCAR deal, discussions between the O’Connell administration and proposed track operator Speedway Motorsports are ongoing.
O’Connell’s position on the issue has evolved.
In November 2022, when O’Connell still expected to run against Cooper, the then-Metro councilmember was clear.
“The city’s priorities—and mine—are cost of living and quality of life, including housing, transit, and safety,” he wrote on social media. “The mayor’s priorities are huge public investments in stadiums and race tracks.”
By June 2023, as he was scrapping with several candidates in an open field and the lame-duck Cooper was pushing the NASCAR deal in Metro Council, O’Connell again appeared opposed.
“We can’t focus on what is being referred to as a ‘neglected’ tourism venue before we focus on our neglected neighborhoods,” he said on June 2. “It’s past time to get our priorities right.”
Later in June, he said: “As with any deal presented to me, I will review it carefully, but I will say this: as I review a budget that doesn’t do as much as it should for public employees — including first responders — or transit, accepting another offer from the [Convention and Visitors Corp.] and state for a tourism-focused endeavor at a local public facility is not my priority.”
Judd is being buried on his 54th birthday
Judd Ellis Matheny Obituary
Judd Ellis Matheny, son of Ellis Matheny and Judith Ricketts Pickering was born on April 9, 1970 in Knoxville TN. As a young teenager, he spent 2 years living in Cameroon Africa with his father, laying the foundation for his future accomplishments. He graduated with Tullahoma High School class of 1988, later earning his B.S. degree in Criminal Justice and Political Science. He served 8 years in the Tennessee Army National Guard. He graduated from the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy, getting hired as a police officer in Baxter TN. He then worked as a K-9 officer and narcotics agent for 4 years. He resigned this position to start up and manage his own security company, Advanced Protective Services, Inc., where he oversaw security for football games, major concerts, and other events. After selling his security company to answer his call to public service, he served 8 full terms (16 years) as a State Representative in district 47. He became the General Manager of Southern Central, a commercial recycling and municipal solid waste company, for 3 years. He was elected Coffee County Mayor in August of 2022, serving only 2 years before his unexpected passing on April 2, 2024 at 53 years old. Judd is survived by his daughter, Abbey Matheny; son, Aulden Matheny; mother, Judith Pickering (Dave); Father, Ellis Matheny (Moi); three brothers, Jack Matheny, James Matheny (Katheryn-Anne), and Richard Crouch (Whitney); one step-brother, John Pickering; his dog, Maggie; and his feathered friend, an African Grey named Harley. Visitation for Mr. Matheny will take place on Tuesday, April 9th, from 2:00-6:00pm at Kilgore Funeral Home. A memorial service will immediately follow at 6:00pm in the Kilgore Funeral Home chapel. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Coffee County Animal Shelter. All donations should be made payable to the “Coffee County Animal Shelter Construction Project” and mail to the following address:
Coffee County Administrative Plaza
Office of Accounts & Budgets
1329 McArthur Street Suite 5
Manchester, TN 37355
.png)
