Petition Deadline Nears for County, School Board Elections

CARROLL COUNTY (February 3)  — Time is running out for candidates to file their petitions for the May 5 and August 6 elections. 

County office and school board seats are up for grabs this year, and, so far, 65 individuals hold petitions for these seats. Of those, 23 have filed their petitions, officially qualifying for candidacy. The deadline to complete these petitions — for party-affiliated or independent nominees — is noon on February 19, 2026.

The primary election for county offices and board of education seats — for Republican and Democratic parties — is Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Primary winners and candidates running as Independents will appear on the August 6 general ballot.

Also August 6 is the City of Clarksburg municipal election for mayor and two alderman positions. Petitions for these seats must be filed by March 10 at noon to qualify for the August election.

Three candidates have picked up petitions since The Banner's last update on January 20.

Michael H. Foster (I) picked up a petition for the County School Board District 1 seat.

Renee Hobson (I) picked up a petition for one of the four available McKenzie School Board Member seats.

Jeff Reed picked up a petition for City of Clarksburg mayor.

Carroll County Administrator of Elections Peg Hamlett provided the following list of petitioners and qualified candidates for the May 5 and August 6 elections on February 3 at 3:15 p.m.

Currently, 21 individuals seek Republican (R) nominations, one individual seeks a Democratic (D) nomination, 41 individuals are running as Independent (I) nominees, and two candidates are running without a listed party.

County Offices:

Circuit Court Clerk (four-year term): Incumbent Sarah Bradberry (R) is the sole petition-holder.

County Mayor (four-year term): Incumbent Joseph G. Butler (R) is the sole candidate to file a completed petition.

Property Assessor (four-year term): John Austin (R) is the sole candidate to file a completed petition.

County Clerk (four-year term): Incumbent Darlene Kirk (I) is the sole candidate to file a completed petition for this August 6 race.

Trustee (four-year term): Incumbent Paula Bolen (I) is the sole candidate to file a completed petition for this August 6 race.

Register of Deeds (four-year term): Incumbent Natalie McCullough Porter (D) and Chad Barnhart (R) have each filed petitions for this office.

County Sheriff (four-year term): Joel Pate (R), Tim Pratt (R) and Eric Sawyers (R) have each picked up petitions. Pratt and Sawyers have filed their petitions, qualifying for the May 5 primary race.

Independent candidates for Carroll County Sheriff are Michael A. Smith and Ryan White. White has filed his petition for the August 6 race.

Road Supervisor (four-year term): The county has reduced the number of road supervisors from two to one effective September 1, 2026. Incumbent Ronnie Wade (I) and newcomers Otis Nesbitt (I) and William Jason Longmire (I) have picked petitions for the position. Wade, Nesbitt and Longmire have completed and filed their petitions, qualifying for candidacy in the August 6 election.

Currently, there are no petition-holders for the Republican State Executive Committee Man and Woman seats, held by Ryan Ellegood and Tess Robbins, respectively.

The following county commission seats have four-year terms:

There are three District 1 (Atwood, Cedar Grove, Lavinia) seats on the ballot. Incumbent Darrell Ridgely (R) is the sole candidate to pick up a petition for the May ballot.

Independent candidates Jimmy Halford (I) and Randy Long (I) have each picked up petitions for the August ballot.

There are two District 2 (McLemoresville, Trezevant) seats on the ballot, held by Daniel Willman and Lana Y. Suite. Incumbent Daniel Lee Willman (R) picked up a petition for the May election. Fellow incumbent Lana Y. Suite (I) picked up a petition for the August election.

There are two District 3 (Bruceton, Buena Vista, Sp. Grove, Vale) seats on the ballot — one vacant and one held by Joey Simmons. Newcomer Brandy Boyd (R) picked up a petition for the May election.

Fellow newcomers Will McMackin (I), Amon Miller (I) and Dwayne Tordsen (I) have each picked up petitions for the August election.

There are two District 4 (Cannon, Hollow Rock, Macedonia) seats on the ballot. Incumbents Morris Rogers (R) and Daniel J. Thomas (R) have each picked up petitions. Rogers has filed his petition for the May election.

There are three District 5 (Civic Center) seats on the ballot, held by Joey Darnall, Cyril Ostiguy and Barry Mac Murphy. Incumbent Cyril Ostiguy (R) and newcomer Jimmy Crossett (R) have each picked up petitions for the May election. Ostiguy and Crossett have each filed.

Incumbent Barry Mac Murphy (I) and newcomers Paul D. Hugueley (I), Rakaya Humphreys (I), Anna Wheet (I) and Curt Taylor (I) have also picked up petitions for the District 5 seats, but for the August election. Murphy is the sole petitioner to file for the August election.

There are two District 6 (Clarksburg, Concord, New Liberty, Westport) seats on the ballot. Newcomer Madison Boyd Endres (R) is the sole petition-holder to file for the May election.

Incumbents Jimmy D. McClure (I) and Philip E. Moore (I) and newcomer Kurt Hunley (I) have picked up District 6 petitions for the August election but have yet to file.

There are three District 7 (Huntingdon Police Station) seats on the ballot. Incumbent Lori Dillahunty (R) is the sole petition-holder for the May election but has yet to file.

Fellow incumbent Walter Smothers (I) and newcomer Lynn Grice (I) are District 7 petition-holders for the August election. Neither has filed.

There are two District 8 (McKenzie Senior Citizens Center) seats on the ballot. Incumbent Jay Phipps (R) is the sole petition-holder for the May election.

Fellow District 8 incumbent Willie Huffman (I) has filed a petition for the August election.

There are three District 9 (McKenzie Church of Christ, City Hall) seats on the ballot. Incumbent John Austin is not seeking re-election. Fellow incumbents Jason R. Martin (I) and Spiridon L. Roditis (I) and newcomer Rickey Price (I) each hold petitions for the August election. Martin and Price have filed their petitions, qualifying for the August 6 election.

There are three seats (four-year terms) available on the Carroll County School Board:

Incumbent Mike Foster (I) is the sole petition holder for the District 1 (Lavinia, Cedar Grove, Atwood, McLemoresville, Trezevant, McKenzie Senior Citizens Center) seat, on the August 6 ballot.

Incumbent Deborah Broadbent (I) is the sole petition-holder for the District 2 (Bruceton, Recycling Center, Hollow Rock, McKenzie Church of Christ, McKenzie City Hall) seat, on the August 6 ballot.

Incumbent Charlotte Tucker (I) is the sole qualifying candidate for the District 3 (Civic Center, Clarksburg, Concord/Westport, Huntingdon Police Station) seat on the August 6 ballot, having filed a completed petition.

There are four seats available on the Hollow Rock-Bruceton Special School District school board:

Currently, there are no petition-holders for the District 16 Hollow Rock city seat (2-year unexpired), held by Jonathan Tedford.

Incumbent Brandy Boyd (R) is the sole petition-holder for the District 16 Bruceton city seat (four-year term) for the May election.

Incumbent April Hampton (I) and Eric Daniel Gonzalez (R) have picked up petitions for the District 16 at-large seat (four-year term).

Incumbent Michael Graves (I) is the sole petition-holder for the District 15 Buena Vista seat (four-year term).

There are two at-large seats available on the Huntingdon Special School District School Board (six-year term):

Incumbents Morgan Butler (I) and Shawna Smith (I) each hold petitions for the two at-large seats.

There are four at-large seats available on the McKenzie Special School District School Board (four-year term):

Incumbent Spiridon L. Roditis (I) and newcomers Renee Hobson (I) and Brian Winston (I) each hold petitions. Other incumbents Bobby Young, LaShonda Williams and George Cassidy have not picked up petitions. Candidates must live in Carroll County.

There are two at-large seats on the ballot for the South Carroll Special School District School Board (four-year term):

Newcomer Sam Melton (I) is the sole candidate to file a petition for one of the at-large seats. Incumbents are Christy Blount and Tom R. Miller.

There are three seats on the ballot to join the West Carroll Special School District School Board (four-year term):

Newcomers Patrick E. Lindsey (R) and Linda Black (I) hold petitions for the Old County seat, held by Betty Wallace.

Currently, there are no petition-holders for the Old Atwood seat, held by Keith Murray.

Incumbent Kelly M. Weaver (I) and newcomer Paul Mueller (I) hold petitions for the Old Trezevant seat.

The City of Clarksburg will hold an election for mayor and two alderman positions on August 6:

Newcomer Jeff Reed has picked up a petition for Clarksburg mayor.

Incumbent Barbara A. McClure has picked up a petition for one of two alderman positions. She is the sole petition holder. Judy Grant Smith currently holds the other alderman seat but has not yet picked up a petition for the seat.

Other offices on the August 6 primary midterm election ballot are David Kustoff's U.S. Congressional District 8 seat, Bill Hagerty's U.S. Senate seat, Bill Lee's Tennessee Governor seat, Tandy Darby's Tennessee House of Representatives District 76 seat and Brock Martin's Tennessee House of Representatives District 79 seat.

Brock Martin (R) has filed a petition to maintain his House of Representatives District 79 seat.