City Council challenger Andrae McGary coasted to a lopsided election victory on Tuesday night over senior Councilman Leamon Pierce in District 8 and incumbent Linda Bennett was upset by Deborah Scott in District 1. Attorney Peter Murphy took the victory in District 9.
Mr. McGary defeated Councilman Pierce 903-375 while winning every precinct.
Deborah Scott, in her first political try, initially was ahead of Council Chairman Bennett in District 1 by 280-174. However, Ms. Bennett later took a close lead at 396-371. Then Ms. Scott was back up at 517-469. Then Ms. Scott began to pull away at 763-618. The final tally was Scott 1,172 and Bennett 751.
In the contest in District 9 to replace Debbie Gaines, Mr. Murphy won over J.T. McDaniel 782-547.
Mr. McGary and Dennis Clark were two young challengers to Councilman Pierce, who had been on the council since the new form of city government was begun in 1990.
Mr. McGary lost only the nursing home vote at 17-9.
Ms. Scott and Joe Graham of Lookout Valley had run along with Ms. Bennett. After Mr. Graham finished third, he threw his support behind Ms. Scott and began vigorously campaigning for her.
Ms. Scott, a retired nurse, had vowed to be a watchdog on city expenditures.
Ms. Scott won Lookout Valley as expected, and she picked up a big majority in Mountain Creek 1 at 236-59 and Mountain Creek 2 at 173-74. She carried Northwoods 5 by 73-27.
Ms. Bennett won Moccasin Bend handily at 135-64 and her home base of North Chattanooga 87-27, but lost the other precincts.
Mr. Murphy, a white resident of Missionary Ridge, was going against longtime local black businessman McDaniel in the district that includes a majority of minority voters.
Mr. McDaniel won most of the precincts, but he lost in the early voting by 210-133. Mr. Murphy won on his home Missionary Ridge by 284-9 and won Highland Park by 68-17.
City Council, District 1
Total
Number of Precincts 16
Precincts Reporting 15 93.8 %
Total Votes 1927
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Linda G. Bennett 751 38.97%
Deborah S. Scott 1172 60.82%
Write-in Votes 4 0.21%
City Council, District 8
Total
Number of Precincts 15
Precincts Reporting 14 93.3 %
Total Votes 1282
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Andraé McGary 903 70.44%
Leamon Pierce 375 29.25%
Write-in Votes 4 0.31%
City Council, District 9
Total
Number of Precincts 16
Precincts Reporting 15 93.8 %
Total Votes 1333
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J.T. McDaniel 547 41.04%
Peter B. Murphy 782 58.66%
Write-in Votes 4 0.30%