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Democratic turnout edges out Republicans in Hamilton County primaries for first time in decades

Staff file photo by Larry Sullivan II / Voting booths are seen set up at the East Chattanooga Community Center on May 5, 2026. Democratic ballots made up a little over half of the total ballots pulled in Hamilton County primaries, the first time the party has come neck-and-neck with Republicans.
Staff file photo by Larry Sullivan II / Voting booths are seen set up at the East Chattanooga Community Center on May 5, 2026. Democratic ballots made up a little over half of the total ballots pulled in Hamilton County primaries, the first time the party has come neck-and-neck with Republicans. Staff file photo by Larry Sullivan II / Voting booths are seen set up at the East Chattanooga Community Center on May 5, 2026. Democratic ballots made up a little over half of the total ballots pulled in Hamilton County primaries, the first time the party has come neck-and-neck with Republicans.

By Siena Duncan 5 min read

For the first time in decades, Democratic turnout edged out Republican turnout in primaries for Hamilton County offices.

The final count showed a slim difference of about 180 ballots pulled between the two parties Tuesday night, with Democratic ballots making up 50.4% of the total. That’s a shift from a trend in county primaries for the past 20 years — Republican ballots have always made up the majority, according to Hamilton County Election Commission records.

Records show on average, Democratic ballots in the May primaries for county offices — which occur every four years — have made up about a third of the total ballots pulled in county elections from 2006 to 2018. The height of Democratic turnout in that time frame climbed to about 38% in 2018.

The margin between Republican and Democratic ballots widened even further in 2022, when there was a contested Republican primary split among three candidates for the open county mayor seat and only one Democratic candidate running for mayor.

In those particular mayoral primaries, Republican ballots outnumbered Democratic ones nearly seven to one — spurring a complaint by one of the candidates alleging Democrats had participated in the GOP primary without being bona fide members of the party.