Hamilton County Commissioner Marty Haynes won almost every voting precinct north of the Tennessee River en route to his Republican primary win in the three-way race for assessor of property on Tuesday, an analysis of Hamilton County Election Commission unofficial totals shows.
Then, by holding his own in larger precincts south of the river and winning several smaller precincts, he was able to overcome the challenge of former assessor of property office employee Sterling Jetton and current assessor's office employee Randy Johnston to win.
Haynes will face businessman Mark Siedlecki, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary, in the general election in August.
Only Bakewell 1, which was won by Jetton, and Mountain Creek 3, which was won by Johnston, kept him from sweeping every precinct north of the river.
Haynes, of course, represents District 3, which encompasses a good bit of the area north of the river, on the commission.
He also won without the support of most of the members of the County Commission, who supported Jetton.
Jetton, who also was supported by the current assessor, Bill Bennett, and his immediate predecessor, Claude Ramsey, polled strongest in Apison, where he lives, the Ooltewah, Harrison, Summitt and Snowhill precincts, and the Westview precincts near the Shelter Church where he pastors.
Johnston, who won or tied for the lead in nine small precincts, entered the race late and proved to be a spoiler, probably taking more votes from Jetton than Haynes. He wound up with 24.84 percent of the vote to Haynes' 38.98 percent and Jetton's 35.82 percent.
In the race for Criminal Court judge, Division 2, incumbency favored Judge Tom Greenholtz, who won 47.17 percent of the vote and took precincts in all parts of the county after being appointed to the bench last fall by Gov. Bill Haslam.
Runner-up Mike Little, who won 30.7 percent of the vote, was strongest in the north end of the county, where he lives, winning all four Soddy-Daisy precincts, Middle Valley 2, Bakewell 1, Sale Creek and Flat Top Mountain.
Boyd Patterson won or tied in four precincts and finished with 21.65 percent of the vote.
In the Republican presidential preference primary, businessman Donald Trump's coalition in winning 32.89 percent of the vote in Hamilton County included largely rural and blue-collar precincts but not exclusively.
He won, among others, five Harrison precincts, all four East Ridge precincts, three Soddy-Daisy precincts, two of the three Red Bank precincts, both Bakewell precincts, both Dallas precincts, both Lookout Valley precincts, both Middle Valley precincts, both Murray Hills precincts, both Northgate precincts, both Northwoods precincts, East Lake and Sale Creek.
But he also took upper middle class suburbs in Apison, East Brainerd, Lakesite and Missionary Ridge and all six Ooltewah precincts.
Second-place Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio, in collecting 27.87 percent of the vote, scored well in wealthy white-collar suburbs such as Lookout Mountain, Ridgeside, Riverview, Signal Mountain and Walden, but he also won in trendy, millennial-heavy Downtown, North Chattanooga and St. Elmo precincts.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won or tied for the most votes in five precincts, retired pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson (who has now suspended his campaign) won or tied in four precincts (three of those Collegedale), and Ohio Gov. John Kasich won two.
Republicans also elected 14 statewide delegates to the Republican National Convention and three committed delegates to the convention from the 3rd Congressional District.
The statewide delegates include several current and former officeholders: state Sen. Mae Beavers, former Nashville Metro Council member Robert Duvall, former state Rep. Joe Carr, former Nashville Metro Council member Karen Bennett, former state Sen. Stacey Campfield and state Rep. Sheila Butt. The others are Doris B. Arnold, William H. Beavers, Chad Blackburn, Deborah Deaver, Lee Douglas, Rebecca Galfano, Steve Gill and Julie Blackman.
The three 3rd District delegates are M. David Riden, Perry D. Riden and Richard L. Snead.
One of the most admirable takeaways from the election is the fact that 42.1 percent of registered voters went to the polls and cast their ballots. That's a huge jump from the 17.63 percent in the presidential primary in 2012, a slight bump from the 40.27 percent in 2008 and the most in a presidential preference primary in Election Commission online records since 1990.
We hope - Trump presence or not - the interest continues into the August election and into the presidential general election in November, where the stakes are highest.