When people feared partisan school board elections in Tennessee when they were being considered in the Tennessee General Assembly last fall, what is happening in Hamilton County’s new District 11 is likely what they had in mind.
Though neither Republican Virginia Anne Manson nor Democrat Jill Black have an opponent in the May 3 primary for a seat on the Hamilton County Board of Education, their race already has drawn nearly $50,000 in contributions, the most for any local school board race thus far.
Manson, according to campaign finance filings on the Hamilton County Election Commission website, has raised slightly less than $33,000, the most for any candidate who has reported in any school board race. Black has raised around $15,000, the second highest amount for any candidate.
By the time the August general election gets here, the two will likely have exceeded the nearly $57,000 in contributions the two school board candidates in District 2 raised before the election in 2020, almost assuredly a record.
For those who have forgotten, that race – in which Marco Perez defeated Tom Decosimo for an open seat – featured excessive spending, boatloads of out-of-district money, third-party allegations, and charges of lying and misrepresentation.