Republican lawmakers, led by Elaine Davis, get their way with Knoxville elections in 2025

The Knoxville Law Department will not challenge the legislature's decision to end citywide runoffs for the six Knoxville district council elections. The recently enacted law was sponsored by state Rep. Elaine Davis, who represents part of the city but does not live in Knoxville.

Knoxville's City Council, by resolution, opposed the legislation.

This means that in 2025, when five district council members’ terms expire, the districts alone will decide the election without a citywide runoff. Many feel the real motive is to boost Republicans who run for the city council. The thinking is that city voters as a whole are unlikely to elect a Republican, but a few districts might prove willing to do so.

Jack Vaughan and Virginia Couch, both from Knox County, have resigned from the Democratic State Executive Committee after being elected in 2022 because they no longer live in their respective state Senate districts.

Should Donald Trump win the presidency in November, it will mark only the second time in American history a president served two nonconsecutive terms. Only Grover Cleveland, who was defeated by Benjamin Harrison in his reelection bid, won the White House back four years later.

Cleveland was one of three presidents who have been a mayor. Before winning the presidency, he was mayor of Buffalo, New York. The other two presidents to have been a mayor were Andrew Johnson (Greeneville, Tennessee) and Calvin Coolidge (Northampton, Massachusetts).

The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network, carried a front-page article March 24 about Vanderbilt University possibly opening up a business school campus in downtown West Palm Beach on seven acres formerly slated for the University of Florida.

The plan has been in the works apparently for over a year by major real estate developers in West Palm Beach. Vanderbilt is ranked No. 18 among national universities, according to US News and World Report.

Vanderbilt has a $10 billion endowment. Thomas Frist III, a graduate who is heir to the $88 billion HCA healthcare empire, is a part-time Palm Beach resident. HCA owns JFK Medical and Palms West hospitals in Palm Beach County. Vanderbilt trustee Jon Winkelried lives in Hobe Sound, Florida, just north of West Palm Beach.

The annual tuition to attend Vanderbilt’s business school, the Owen School of Management, is about $65,000.

The West Palm Beach campus plan is not definite, and Vanderbilt, while not denying the report, did not respond to specific questions, the Palm Beach Post reported. “We do not have any information to share, but we’re always exploring new opportunities to expand our impact and further our mission,” the article reported a Vanderbilt spokesman saying.

Mayor Indya Kincannon sat for a 90-minute deposition March 19 in a lawsuit by Knox News over how the city handled public records in the hiring of Police Chief Paul Noel. Knox News Executive Editor Joel Christopher was present in the Thomas Varlan Conference Room of the city Law Department, along with city law director Charles Swanson and deputy law director Ron Mills, who is the go-to city attorney for police issues. It is hard to determine when this lawsuit may end. Noted open records expert Rick Hollow is the attorney representing Knox News.

The funeral for retired longtime fire chief Bruce Cureton on March 19 had a strong turnout of prior city officials, including former city law director Tom Varlan, former police chief Phil Keith and former special events director Sue Clancy, as well as current city Law Director Charles Swanson. Mayor Kincannon also paid her respects.

Congratulations to Home Federal, which is 100 years old. It started off as Home Building and Loan Association and was located in a suite at the Farragut Hotel (now Hyatt Place) on Gay Street. It grew from $500,000 to $2 billion today. David J. Reynolds is the president. The longest serving president was William (Bill) Walkup from 1947 to 1977.

Birthdays

April 4: Attorney Jamie Ballinger is 45. Faye Langley is 76. Amber Parker is 53. Cynthia Pearman is 65. John Sanders is 50. Samuel Utesch is 31.

April 5: John S. Archer is 36. Dr. Ken Christenberry is 83. Mary Costa is 94. Dustin Hughes is 42. Rosa Mar is 70. Margaret Samples is 62.

April 6: Peter M. Ahrens is 49.

April 7: Attorney Dean Farmer is 75. Artist Cynthia Markert is 70. Greg Mathews is 66. Former city councilman Theotis Robinson Jr. is 82.

April 8: Bert Bertelkamp is 66. Dr. Brian Bonnyman is 61. Keith Britt is 46. Retired Knoxville Museum of Art director David Butler is 69. Mike Cohen is 71. Bob Griffitts is 77. Edward Heim is 85. Tyler M. Janow is 31. Sessions Judge Patricia Long is 58. Bob Whetsel is 72.

April 9: Scott Brun is 56. Sara Davis is 61. Laurie Dover is 67. Con Hunley is 79. Wade Seifert is 27. Joshua Singer is 32. Attorney Alexander Waters is 36.

April 10: Steve Diggs is 58. Kevin Heaslip is 45. Kent Minault is 81. Rusha Sams is 78. Lori Tucker is 51.

Victor Ashe is a former Knoxville mayor and former ambassador to Poland. He is a columnist for Shopper News. 

Knox News and Shopper News promptly correct all errors. If you think we have published incorrect information, please email accuracy@knoxnews.com. Describe the error, where you saw it, the date, page number or the URL.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Republican lawmakers get their way with Knoxville elections in 2025