Larry Ables, former county chief magistrate, qualified late for a race against General Sessions Court Judge Gerald Webb.
Another sitting judge in General Sessions, Alex McVeagh, will have competition from assistant district attorney David Schmidt.
Judge McVeagh has been mentioned as a possible candidate to move up to Criminal Court judge with the departure of Judge Tom Greenholtz to the Court of Criminal Appeals in September. Judge McVeagh said on Facebook on Thursday, "A lot of rumors out there, so let me be crystal clear. . . I love my job and can't wait to campaign against my two opponents to retain my position as General Sessions Court judge! The official campaign season starts today."
Attorney Caldwell Huckabay earlier announced he was running for the seat held by Judge McVeagh. However, on Thursday he said he is not running.
Attorney Huckabay said, "When I qualified to run for Judge of General Sessions Court, Div. II, I saw a clear path to victory. As I stated at the time, Tom Greenholtz was the obvious choice to
be elevated to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals creating a vacancy for election of the Judge of Criminal Court, Div. II. The logical choice to replace Judge Greenholtz on the ballot was, and remains, Judge Alex McVeagh. Judge McVeagh’s logical move to the Criminal Court, Div. II ballot would create an opportunity to run for the open General Sessions Court, Div. II seat. I fully
expected others to throw their hat into the ring, and I anticipated and looked forward to the prospect of a robust campaign for that open seat.
"What I did not anticipate was that the only candidate for Criminal Court, Div. II has chosen to remain on the ballot with no intentions of actually serving that term, thwarting a free and fair election. I think we can all agree that our judges should be chosen by a popular vote of the citizens. I also did not anticipate that Judge McVeagh would state in writing that he will not be a candidate for that seat so long as he has opposition in the General Sessions Court race.
"It was never my intention to run against Alex McVeagh. He is an outstanding judge who should remain on the bench. Hamilton County is well served by Judge McVeagh, and I am not going to run against him to the detriment of the people of Hamilton County just to realize my own desire to be a judge. It just would not be right. Consequently, I have withdrawn my candidacy for Judge of General Sessions Court, Div. II and give my unqualified support to the election effort of
Judge McVeagh.
"I want to thank the many people who have reached out to Shelley and me to offer their support. We are grateful beyond words to all of you and remain hopeful that we will have this opportunity again in the future."