Nashville election results 2024: Incumbent Wilhoite wins property assessor primary
Davidson County Assessor of Property Vivian Wilhoite won the Democratic primary for the position Tuesday night, defeating her challenger by a nearly 2-1 margin.
Wilhoite is expected to win the countywide general election in August because no Republicans are running for the office.
The Assessor of Property office is responsible for appraising the value of nearly every parcel in Davidson County, which is used to determine how properties are taxed. The other candidate in the race was Tomesia Day, who started working in the office in 2013 and worked her way to section leader of the personalty division before resigning in 2020.
Wilhoite thanked voters in a phone call interview Wednesday morning.
"Thank you for making your voice heard and putting the stamp of approval on my leadership, putting the stamp of approval on my amazing staff," Wilhoite said. "We look forward to building on the achievements and accomplishments we've already made in serving the people of Nashville and Davidson County."
Wilhoite holds many goals, chief among them to always "make this office the best Metro office ever."
She plans to provide "fair and equitable" values to property owners while continuing her office's outreach efforts into the community, educating property owners of possible exemptions and of their ability to appeal their appraisals if they aren't satisfied. She also said she wants to build on efforts to maintain a staff vested in professionalism and cited pay increases for entry-level positions in the office from $32,000 to $50,000 since she took over.
Wilhoite first won the election for property assessor in 2016 and was reelected in 2020.
Wilhoite is a familiar face to many Nashvillians who witnessed her recent unsuccessful bid for Nashville mayor. She also represented District 29 on the Metro Nashville Council from 2003 to 2011 and lost previous runs for an at-large council seat and juvenile court clerk.
Before being elected to property assessor, Wilhoite, 60, worked three decades at the Tennessee Regulatory Authority, now called the Tennessee Public Utility Commission, including as an assessor of public property. She holds a bachelor’s in business administration from Tennessee State University.
More: 2024 Tennessee Primary Election Results
More: 2024 Davidson County Primary Election Results
Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMealins.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville election results: Wilhoite wins property assessor primary
