As Knox County emerges from the snow, ice and fog, it finds an election looming.

The forum included candidates on the ballot in Commission districts 1, 2, 6 and 8.

Early voting for the March 5 presidential and county primaries begins in less than three weeks, on Feb. 14. A host of candidates are running for County Commission and school board, and many of them have contested party primaries.

With seven Commission seats up for election this year, and 27 contenders between them, the League of Women Voters of Knoxville/Knox County has split its usual candidate forum into two separate events.

The first was Thursday evening at the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, with candidates from Commission districts 1, 2, 6 and 8. (A second forum on Feb. 13 at Messiah Lutheran Church on Kingston Pike will feature candidates from districts 4, 5 and 9.)

Eleven candidates appeared, before an audience of about 40 people. The event was also livestreamed on Facebook, and you can watch the video here. (Editor’s Note: The moderator was Compass’ own Jesse Fox Mayshark, with questions submitted by attendees.)

They were all asked four questions — that’s all there was time for, even with a 90-second limit on answers — along with introductory and closing statements. Growth and development issues figured in both questions and statements by the candidates, with most saying they had been following the Advance Knox planning process closely.

Other questions asked if the candidates would be willing to increase county spending for higher salaries for school employees, which led to discussions of revenues and tax rates; whether they would support some kind of civilian review board for the Sheriff’s Office; and how many Commission meetings they had attended, and how many elections they had voted in in the last 10 years.

In general, candidates sounded many of the same themes. The biggest divide came on the question about a civilian review board, with some saying they didn’t see a need for it while others said they could support it for transparency and accountability. No candidate directly called for a property tax increase, but several said they were open to looking at revenue options. (Knox County hasn’t had a tax increase since 1999.)

We will have in-depth looks at each race in the coming weeks. But here’s a sample at who was there last night and what they said. 

District 1

Present: Democrats Evelyn Gill and Damon Rawls, Republican Charles Frazier

Not present: Republican Justin Hirst, who said he had a conflict

Incumbent Commissioner Dasha Lundy chose not to run for reelection, opening the way for a four-way race in the center city 1st District. Voters in the heavily Democratic district will have the rare choice of competitive primaries in both major parties.

Gill held the seat from 2016-2020, before being ousted by Lundy in that year’s Democratic primary. Rawls is a tech consultant, and Frazier is a broadcaster and sales executive for the East Knoxville-based radio station WJBE.

On growth and development in the county:

Frazier: “If government is truly for the people, in terms of zoning, we need to listen to the residents of a community and vote their concerns and their wishes, and not lean over to a developer because of his glamorous way of looking at money and looking at turning a beautiful property into a subdivision that does not fit because the infrastructure does not fit.”

On increasing school funding:

Gill: “We have to have a workforce, and that workforce has to have access to opportunities. They have to have vocational as well as college readiness, in order to be the generation of people that are going to pay the taxes in this town.”

On a civilian review board:

Rawls: “I support police and all they do, but I do believe in oversight. Because this is community oversight, these are things that are happening to the community.”

District 2

Present: Democrat Courtney Durrett

Not Present: Republican Debbie Phillips, who said she had a conflict; independent Ethan Grantham

Durrett, the incumbent in the North Knoxville district, is seeking a second term. She has no primary opposition, but will face Phillips and Grantham in the Aug. 1 general election. She also had the floor to herself Thursday night.

On the Advance Knox process: “I do think that it is necessary to have green space, it's necessary (to have) recreation. But it's also necessary to look at what we can do to increase our housing supply, because housing attainability and affordability is a real issue.”

District 6

Present: Republicans Terry Hill and Julie McBee-Fritts, Democrat Daniel Greene

Hill, the current Commission chair, is finishing her first term representing the West Knox 6th District, which covers Hardin Valley and Karns. She previously represented the same district on the school board for six years.

She faces a challenge in the Republican primary from political newcomer McBee-Fritts. The primary winner will face Greene in the general election. Both McBee-Fritts, a former nurse, and Greene, a banker, have been active in community efforts for more regulation of development in the area. 

On growth and development:

Hill: “Quite honestly, in Hardin Valley and the Karns area, we are quickly running out of room to grow. So we see that piece of Advance Knox as protecting some of what we have left. So that initiative at least as far as District 6 is concerned is successful about that. I do know that districts 8 and 9 face a very different challenge, and that it is much more rural.”

McBee-Fritts: “We need to work with our builders and instead of just, ‘checkmark - move on, checkmark - move on,’ we need to listen to our residents. I know we’re going to grow, and that’s OK, I understand that.”

Greene: “I’m big on balance. So one thing I do want to see, especially after Advance Knox has been implemented, is the balance between the (power) of the builders and also the residents.  Before Advance Knox, the balance of power has been in the builders solely, because we are so concerned with trying to keep the housing prices down and trying to keep citizens coming to Knoxville and giving those opportunities.”

District 8

Present: Republicans D.J. Corcoran, Kara Daley and Adam Thompson; Democrat Charles V. Chandler

With Republican incumbent Richie Beeler not seeking reelection, three Republicans and a Democrat are contending in the strongly Republican and largely rural East Knox 8th District.

Corcoran is a familiar name in Knoxville, where he was a firefighter and worked for years as the Fire Department’s media spokesperson. He faces Daley, a first-time candidate who confessed she had rarely voted in the past, and Thompson, a well-known local farmer.

The winner of the GOP primary will face Chandler, who said he first voted in 1960 for John F. Kennedy. He also noted he’s the first Democratic candidate in the 8th District “this century.”

On increasing school funding: 

Corcoran: “Knox County hasn’t seen a tax increase in more than 20 years. So if you want more for your dollar, you’re going to have to find a way to put money in the kitty. I don’t know if this is going to be a tax increase or if it's just something that we have to look at and exercise all of our ways of looking into revenue.”

Daley: “I mean, where's the money going to come from?  We have to look at our budget, and are we going to pull from somewhere else, or are we going to raise taxes or what? There's so many options, and it's a big picture of, you can't just come up with the money out of anywhere.” 

On growth and development:

Thompson: “I think Advance Knox, once it gets passed, we’ll have some hard lines and we’ll have to stick to those hard lines — to let the ones who are going to rezone, change the zoning and the densities, know that there's a line that they cannot cross. That provides legal protections for the communities that are looking for them.”

Chandler: ”We're not looking to replace our regional farms, our small farms, our backyard gardens with a subdivision of a suburban nature. Our focus must be on the citizens who live here and have built this beautiful place.”

Correction 2/8/24: Charles V. Chandler's middle initial has been corrected.