It’s early voting time in Tennessee!

Almost all of the competitive primaries are on the Republican ballot.

Voting begins today for the March 5 presidential and Knox County primary election. From now through Feb. 27, you can cast a ballot at any of 11 early voting locations around the county. Most are open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturdays, but there are some variations so check at knoxvotes.org before going.

There is a significant difference between Democratic and Republican ballots this time around. If you pull a Democratic ballot, there is only one competitive primary to vote in, and that is only in the 1st District County Commission race between Evelyn Gill and Damon Rawls. If you don’t live in the 1st District, you will have no primary choices to make for any office from president down to County Commission and school board.

Republicans have more decisions. There is, first of all, an at least theoretically competitive presidential primary, with former President Donald Trump facing former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. (Other candidates who have formally dropped out of the race are also on the ballot, so if you had your heart set on voting for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, you still can.)

There are two competitive Republican primaries for countywide offices, property assessor and law director. And there are competitive County Commission primaries for districts 1, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9, along with competitive school board primaries in districts 3 and 8.

As usual, Compass is moving all of our election coverage to date outside our paywall. (You can find links to individual stories at the bottom of this article.) We still have a few races to write about, which we will be publishing in the coming days.

Last night, on the eve of the start of voting, the League of Women Voters of Knoxville-Knox County held the second of two County Commission candidate forums. This one included contenders for districts 4, 5 and 9. (You can read our coverage of the first forum covering districts 1, 2, 6 and 8, right here.)

You can watch the forum on the Facebook page of the League of Women Voters of Knoxville/Knox County, which organized the event with a host of partner organizations. Here’s a quick overview of the major issues raised in questions from the audience and comments from each candidate. (Editor’s Note: Compass’ Jesse Fox Mayshark moderated the event, but questions came from the audience.)

Focus on Growth

Concerns and questions about housing, growth and infrastructure dominated the conversation at Tuesday’s forum at Messiah Lutheran Church on Kingston Pike in West Knoxville.

The forum drew seven of the 13 candidates on the ballot in the three Commission districts. As at the first forum, all of the Democratic candidates were present. Five Republicans and one independent candidate were not present, with several having declined the invitation.

Here’s how the candidates’ attendance broke down by district:

4th District — Present: Garrett Holt (R), Shane Jackson (D); not present: Liz Tombras (R) .

5th District — Present: Arthur Moore (D), Dale Skidmore (R), Brian Walker (R); not present: Brad Hall (R), Angela Russell (R), Toni Scott (R).

9th District — Present: Barry Neal (R), Matthew Park (D); not present: Andy Fox (R), Stacey Bryan Smith (I).

Here is a sampling of candidate answers to the question, “What is the single most important issue facing Knox County now, and why?”

Jackson: “I work in banking, and one of the things that I'm in charge of is providing financing for affordable housing. I've seen firsthand how affordable housing is a bit of an oxymoron nowadays, and how our average loan amount and average purchase price continue to skyrocket. I've heard earlier today we are short 10,000 houses in Knoxville. Definitely our affordable housing crisis and our just needing more units on the street. More houses are needed, and with that comes responsible growth and having good sidewalks, having good greenways.”

Holt: “​​We have to begin planning effectively and properly. Knox County has not had a comprehensive growth plan in conjunction with the surrounding municipalities since the early 2000s. Now with the Advance Knox initiative, we are obviously working towards that with the adoption of the Knox County Comprehensive Land Use and Transportation Plan. Where the rubber meets the road is what those plans encompass and how we enact that into legislation.”

Moore: “We need more housing, but we have to be cautious about how you approach that. It's not just the need for more housing — it’s very easy to put houses down. … But we also have to be cognizant of the infrastructure that's going to be necessary to support the people who want to move here. We have to also hold on to the values that make East Tennessee a place people want to come.”

Skidmore: “I was looking at Advance Knox, they’re estimating that our population is going to increase 80,000 within the next 20 years. I grew up in Jefferson County. Jefferson County’s population is 54,000 right now, and that’s over 200 years of existence. Knox County is going to grow 25,000 more people than Jefferson County has at this point. So that’s going to create a challenge.”

Walker: “If you understand District 5, which is southwest Knox County, we've had five apartment complexes that are either in the process of being built or about to open. It's a matter of, how are we going to move those people around town, where are we going to school the children, hospitals and everything else. All the other amenities we have, how are we going to backfill all those people and take care of them?”

Park: “I would say that the affordable housing crisis is one element of the affordable living crisis. We do have to think about infrastructure. And infrastructure doesn't just mean a road or a sidewalk. It means transportation. I'm excited about Advance Knox and the unified transportation plan that will come out of that. I hope that that includes contracting with the city to bring city bus service into some very targeted pieces of the county, so that we can move people around and create those corridors. I hope that also means planning for public schools, and planning for things like grocery stores.”

Neal: “I will look at developing infrastructure in areas that are in the Planned Growth Area. If we can manage to keep our infrastructure caught up, at least with the development as it’s occurring in those Planned Growth Areas, or possibly even staying a little ahead of it. And then outside the Planned Growth Areas, encouraging the rural and the farmland to remain that way in order for future generations of Knox Countians to enjoy it.”

Previous Election Coverage

These articles are now outside the paywall and free to read and share.

“Growth Dominates First Commission Forum,” Jan. 26

“County Commission District 4,” Jan. 30

“School Board Candidates Talk Taxes, Vouchers,” Jan. 31

“County Commission District 6,” Feb. 2

“School Board District 3,” Feb. 7

“Property Assessor,” Feb. 9

“County Commission District 5,” Feb. 12

“County Commission District 8,” Feb. 13