Not a single school board candidate endorsed by Sumner County Constitutional Republicans won their primary Tuesday. The group had been aiming to take over the school board, with many in the community concerned they would oust the district’s director of schools.
Instead, a slate of more moderate Republicans racked up wins. They were endorsed by a newly formed PAC, called Sumner County Republican Freedom Caucus.
Courtesy Sumner County Republican Freedom Caucus The Sumner County Republican Freedom Caucus endorsed candidates
Four of Tuesday’s winners will become school board members, as no Democrats are running in their districts in the August general election.
- Former county Commissioner Shellie Young Tucker will serve District 2 after beating Rosemarie Schulze
- Wade Evans eked out a close win against Todd Kerr to represent District 4
- Greg Hollis heartily defeated Marie Mobely in the District 6 race
- Penny Barnes ran unopposed in the District 10 Republican primary
Another candidate, Meghan Breinig of District 8, secured a key victory over Tracy Finegan. Breinig will face independent Todd Stephens in August.
The post on the Facebook group for Sumner County Constitutional Republicans said Democrats crossed party lines to elect the winning candidates, who they called RINOs, which stands for “Republicans in name only.” Some SCCR members had publicized a state law ahead of the election that requires voters be bonafide party members to vote in a party’s primary. But that law has gone unenforced, and is being challenged in court by Tennessee’s League of Women Voters.
The race for District 9 remains competitive, with a Democrat and Republican on the ballot in August, plus incumbent Josh Graham, who’s backed by Constitutional Republicans, running as an independent.
WPLN produced a four-part series about the Constitutional Republicans’ impact on local government. You can that coverage here.
The forces that defeated Constitutional Republicans
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Dennis Cavin serves as treasurer for the new PAC. He said it started in mid-January after a conversation about concerns with the direction of local government.
“We wanted to preserve our ability to continue to provide first class education to the students of Sumner County,” Cavin said. “We also wanted to ensure that we could protect our future, that Sumner County would be the place that people would want to come to bring their families, to bring their small business.”
The Freedom Caucus put up billboards, mailers and a voter guide to support its candidates. But more broadly, it also aimed to encourage voter turnout, regardless of candidate.
In the 2022 primaries, just 14% of registered voters in Sumner County cast a ballot. This year, that figure bumped up to 20%. Cavin said that’s progress, but not nearly enough.
“I think we should be in the 50% at some point in time, and our goal is to try to get people motivated to do that.”
Cavin says the PAC was set up in reaction to Constitutional Republicans, but the group plans on staying involved in local elections for the long haul. The PAC has its eye on the August elections and hopes to drum up high voter turnout in November.
Sumner County resident Wes Duenkel also attributes the school board wins to grassroots efforts. Many individuals volunteered with campaigns, went door-knocking and waved signs in support of the same candidates that were endorsed by the Freedom Caucus PAC.
Hendersonville father of four David White said he was a “swiss army knife” for the Young Tucker, Evans, Hollis and Breinig campaigns.
“Some sign holding during early voting and some phone calls, text messages, Facebook messages,” White said. “Anything I could do to try to engage the community and let them know what’s going on and what’s at stake.“
Those grassroots efforts were not coordinated with the PAC. After starting up in January, Cavin said there was little time to bring in people from other organizations. But he foresees their work could intersect going forward.
“So long as those organizations are focused on doing what is right for our schools, what is right for our county, we’ll applaud them,” Cavin said.
You can find the full results for the Sumner County primary races here.
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