Incumbents keep their seats in five Tennessee House races

Tennessee State Capitol downtown Nashville. Photo by Ricky Rogers (The Tennessean) 4/27/2000
Tennessee State Capitol downtown Nashville. Photo by Ricky Rogers (The Tennessean) 4/27/2000
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In the region's five state House of Representatives races, each of the incumbents kept their seats after the votes were tallied Tuesday night.

Three of the five candidates - Gerald McCormick, JoAnne Favors and Mike Carter - ran unopposed in District 26, 28 and 29, respectively.

Patsy Hazlewood and Marc Gravitt both handily beat out competitors to win the District 27 and 30 seats.

State House representatives serve two-year terms and their base pay is $20,884. All 99 seats in the House are up for election.

District 26: McCormick will serve his seventh term representing Hixson in the 26th District, facing no challengers and winning 24,910 of the 26,354 votes.

"I am lucky to have the opportunity and appreciate the people that have voted for me," McCormick said Tuesday. "I'm looking forward to being involved particularly in the state budget and finance matters in coming years."

McCormick, 54, announced this fall he will not seek a fourth term as the House Majority Leader.

District 27: Hazlewood coasted into her second term as the Republican representative of District 27, winning 20,975 votes and defeating Democrat Steve Gordon, who claimed just 8,135 votes.

"It's been a great honor to serve District 27 and I'm looking forward to having the opportunity again," Hazlewood said Tuesday. "It does matter who governs."

During the last two years, Hazlewood, 66, a former business executive and economic development director for the state, sponsored several business-related bills. District 27 includes Signal Mountain, Lookout Mountain and parts of Red Bank.

District 28: Favors took 18,473 of 19,113 votes and will serve her seventh term in the House. The 28th District includes downtown, East Chattanooga and Alton Park.

Favors, 73, a Democrat and former House minority whip, trounced 32-year-old Dennis Clark in the Democratic primary in August and had no Republican challenger.

Favors is a veteran of the health care industry and an advocate of increased access to TennCare. Before being elected to the House, Favors served on the Hamilton County Commission.

District 29: Carter also was unopposed in the district that includes Ooltewah and portions of Sale Creek, claiming 23,146 of the 24,314 votes.

Carter, 62, is an attorney and former Hamilton County Sessions Court judge.

District 30: Gravitt, a Republican, kept his seat in the 30th District, which includes East Ridge, Collegedale, Apison and parts of Chattanooga.

Gravitt faced Democrat Katie Cowley and independent Patrick Hickey, but came out on top with 17,032 votes. Cowley received 8,614; Hickey earned 913.

The Hamilton County Commission first named Gravitt, 50, to the seat in 2014, to fill a vacancy. The next month he won the seat in the November election.

He is finishing his stint as the vice mayor of East Ridge this year.

Contact staff writer Kendi A. Rainwater at 423-757-6592 or krainwater@timesfreepress.com. Follow on Twitter @kendi_and.

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