Voters in last week’s primary elections set the field for contests in state and U.S. legislative races in the upcoming November 3 elections, and Carroll County voters picked the winning nominees in all but one of those primary battles.
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Darby wins House District 76
Tandy Darby won the Republican nomination for the Tennessee House District 76 seat with 2,818 votes (38 percent) district-wide and 390 votes (23 percent) in Carroll County.
But county voters opted for Keith Priestly, giving him 768 votes for 44 percent.
Other Republican contenders included John McMahan with 340 county votes, Dennis Doster with 206 votes, and David Hawks with 32 votes.
There were no candidates running for District 76 in the Democratic primary, but Jeffrey Washburn has qualified as an independent candidate for that seat.
The winner on Nov. 3 will take over the seat of Andy Holt, who did not seek re-election.
District 76 covers all of Weakley County and portions of Carroll and Obion Counties.
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Stevens keeps Senate District 24
Incumbent State Senator John Stevens of Huntingdon held off challenger Casey Hood for the 24th District senatorial seat, topping Hood 13,059 to 8,264 votes in the district and 2,254 to 1,323 in his home county.
No Democratic candidates were on the primary ballot for this position.
Independent candidate Yahweh Yahweh will be on the Nov. 3 ballot for the District 24 spot.
District 24 covers Carroll, Benton, Gibson, Henry, Obion, and Weakley Counties.
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Halford retains House District 79
Incumbent State Rep. Curtis Halford will retain his seat in House District 79 after topping his opponent Christine Warrington in the Republican primary.
Halford garnered 5,484 votes (84 percent) in the district and 1,598 votes (83 percent) in the county.
Warrington received 317 votes (17 percent) in the county.
There was no Democratic challenger for this seat.
District 79 covers all of Gibson County and part of Carroll County.
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Hagerty vs. Bradshaw for U.S. Senate
Bill Hagerty won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat of Lamar Alexander, who is retiring.
Hagerty took over 50 percent of the vote statewide with 330,893 votes and 55 percent of the county vote with 2,068 votes, beating out Manny Sethi, who got 39 percent of the state vote (256,732) and 28 percent of the county vote (1,058), along with 13 other Republican contenders.
Hargerty will be facing off in November with Democratic primary winner Marquita Bradshaw, who beat out four other Democratic contenders with 36 percent of the overall vote and 39 percent of the vote in Carroll County.
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Kustoff vs. Pearson in House District 8
Republican nominee and incumbent U.S. Rep. David Kustoff and Democratic nominee Erika Stotts Pearson will be battling for the District 8 U.S. House seat in November.
Kustoff ran unchallenged in the Republican primary.
Pearson beat out three other contenders in the Democratic primary with 14,487 district votes (51 percent) and 275 county votes (37 percent).
District 8 covers a large portion of West Tennessee, including all of Carroll County.
