Weakley County Election results are in

Story by Senior Investigative Reporter Shannon Taylor

Dresden’s mayoral candidate and alderman race was one of the most closely watched races in a very long time. Five candidates ran for mayor and ten candidates ran for alderman in a race that many people the Press spoke with said was a real nail-biter waiting for results to come in.

In a record turnout for Dresden with 53% of registered voters coming to the polls this election and numerous citizens standing outside the Weakley County Election Commission awaiting results, Mark Maddox was the clear winner for the Dresden mayoral race with 358 votes.

Maddox came into the office and spoke on becoming the new mayor saying, “I know this is going to be a pretty big job and I know that there will be a lot of scrutiny in this job. I’m looking forward to that task. I want to thank God for saving us and giving us a place to live like Dresden. I need to thank my wife and my kids who are my editors on everything I put out-they did an excellent job. Let me also thank the people who believed in me-who called and said we’d like you to run for mayor-I had really not considered it, but those calls turned my head and headed me in this direction.”

Maddox said that he learned some things in the race about how to treat each other. “All the candidates did-about how to treat each other-and I’ll say that this has been a fun campaign running against four other folks who were just as dedicated, who wanted to serve Dresden and I hope that we can find ways for them to do that in this administration.”

Maddox said that he was proud of the voter turnout in Dresden because he said, “That means folks are interested, that means folks want this town to succeed and they want to be involved. I’m really proud of the citizens of Dresden for turning out.”

Maddox congratulated Dresden’s alderman winners: Gwin Anderson, Curtis Doran and Dale Hutcherson. Anderson won with a total of 406 votes, Doran with 438 votes and Hutcherson with 376 votes.

The voter turnout overall for Weakley County was 43.82% with 8,373 voters coming to the polls out of 19,106 registered voters.

The city of Greenfields alderman winners were Mark Galey with 357 votes, Jaye Massey with 360 votes, Leanna Stephenson with 346 votes and Jeff Hansen with 312 votes.

In Martin, Randy Brundige was re-elected as mayor, beating Sammy Liles with 1,320 votes to his 619. Brundige said, “I would like to thank the citizens of Martin for another opportunity to serve you again for another four years. Thank you, Martin!”

The city of Sharon has a new mayor also. Donna Stricklin won over Ali Stalter with a total of 218 votes to Stalters 108. Sharon’s alderman winners are Joe D. Jones with 168 votes and Monroe Ary with 147 votes.

Once the election results are certified by the Weakley County Election Commission, the winners will be sworn in. The date for that is pending certification.

The state results for Governor of Tennessee show Bill Lee re-elected. In the Tennessee State House District 76, Tandy Darby won re-election and in the Tennessee House District 8 David Kustoff won re-election. Tennessee Amendment 1 which prohibits requiring union membership as condition of employment passed and Amendment three which bans slavery as a criminal punishment also passed. Amendment two which designates state Senate speaker as acting governor is still awaiting results and amendment four which allows religious ministers to serve in the Legislature is also still awaiting results.