Hamilton County will hold a state House special election primary on Tuesday. The outcome in the District 29 race is virtually certain, so most voters likely will stay home.
But we think if you live in the district, which is the county’s biggest geographically, running from its top left corner near Sale Creek, across the Tennessee River, down almost its entire right-hand border with Bradley County and even into North Brainerd, you ought to vote.
The candidates, Republican Greg Vital and Democrat DeAngelo Jelks, are unopposed in their primaries. As long as one person votes for each one, and something cataclysmic doesn’t happen between now and then, they will be the combatants in the Sept. 14 general election.
They are vying to fill the unexpired term of Republican Mike Carter, one of the legislature’s sharpest minds and surely one of its most decent men. They have big shoes to fill.
Carter’s widow, Joan, was appointed to serve on an interim basis after his death in May.