In a significant victory Tuesday night, Shannon Whitfield clinched the Republican Party nomination for sole county commissioner of Walker County, defeating his opponent, Mike Peardon, by several thousand votes.
Polls closed in Walker County at 7 p.m., and for the next two hours, one precinct after another came in for Whitfield, building his lead to a total of 4,456 to Peardon's 1,473.
Bebe HeiskellJust two blocks away from the Walker County Courthouse where election officials tabulated the results, Whitfield's family and friends gathered at the Lafayette Bank Community Room to celebrate his victory.
"The battle has just begun. This is a great celebration, but the battle has just started," he said to a small group of supporters.
"We're going to take our county back and get our county back on solid footing financially. The honor of the office, we've got to get that back."
For months, the two candidates raced against one another for the opportunity to unseat the incumbent sole commissioner, Bebe Heiskell, who has held the position for 15 years.
Heiskell won the previous four elections as a Republican, but chose to run as an independent this year, claiming the party had become too extreme for her.
"[Whitfield] has worked very, very hard, and he's been working a long time. I'm not at all surprised he won that election," Heiskell said Tuesday night.
Concerning how she feels about her own chances against Whitfield later this year, she said, "Oh, we'll just wait and see."
Chief among the concerns addressed by Whitfield's campaign platform has been Walker County's debt load which he estimates to be an enormous $80 million - a number he says has ballooned from $14 million since Heiskell first took office.
He has said his office would focus on trimming excessive spending and putting an end to projects he believes have been financial black holes.
In the weeks leading up to the primary, Whitfield repeatedly pointed to a county-owned destination resort called Mountain Cove Farms, which he said costs the county more than $900,000 a year, and the county landfill, which operates at a loss of $500,000 a year.
Bobby Teems, Whitfield's campaign manager, was pleased with the results and said, "he's a smart, smart guy, and we've got some major problems."
Despite his loss, Peardon was proud of the campaign he ran and said, "I've done the best I could with what I know. I'm not ashamed of it. I feel like the county's lost the best commissioner they would ever have, but I think that's a result of my failure to communicate."
He said, "I know without a doubt that it was the Lord's will for me to run."
Walker County voters also overwhelmingly spoke out in support of a transition away from the sole county commissioner position to a board of commissioners. 4,503 said they would support the change, while another 1,480 said they want the position to remain as is.
Contact staff writer Emmett Gienapp at egienapp@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731.