By Publisher Bailey Hufstetler
The voters of Spring City have voiced their opinions and officially chose Leon Locke, current Vice Mayor, to take over the reigns in September as their next Mayor. In a close race, Locke was able to gather 139 out of the 326 total votes that were cast this election. Reed Smith followed with a close margin of 131 votes total. Followed by current Mayor Woody Evans with only 56 votes total making him a one term Mayor. Evans was first elected Mayor in Spring City in 2020 when he barely beat challenger Bailey Hufstetler by just 11 votes in the 2020 election. Locke will be sworn in at the beginning of September.
Spring City citizens also elected a new City Commissioner, Thomas Beaver, who will fill Lockes vacant commission seat now that he is moving into the Mayor’s office. Kevin Jenkins, current commissioner, was re-elected to another four year term.
Other races that caught everyone’s attention was the District 31 State Representative Republican Primary. Ron Travis, incumbent, beat challenger Richard Smith, garnishing 3,392 votes. 1,431 of those votes were cast in Rhea County. Travis will face Democratic challenger, Brittany Lynn Warfel in November.
Other uncontested results for county races are listed below:
Assessor of Property- Debbie Byrd: 1,874
Road Supervisor- Rick Wilkey: 1,937
School Board District 2- B.J. McCoy: 354
School Board District 4- Bimbo McCawley: 159
School Board District 6- Wayne Cox: 98
School Board District 8- Chip Pendergrass: 248
The Historic Rhea County Courthouse was filled with curious on lookers waiting patiently for the results of tonights election. A lot of conversations buzzed around the room, however one of the biggest topics that was discussed was voter turnout. Not a lot of people got out and voted in this years election was the overall consensus from everyone there waiting for results.
For more information on elections in Rhea County, please visit the Rhea County Election Commission Office’s website at rheavote.com.
This article was written by our Publisher Bailey Hufstetler. You can reach out to him for comment at publisher@rheacountyobserver.com.
