Let me start with I just came in from gardening to write my thoughts. I did not obtain permission or approval. My dog Spring Thyme seemed to understand.
All day last Tuesday reports came in of enthusiasm and momentum and joy when voting for County Mayoral Candidate Sabrena Smedley. It was prevalent the duration. The campaign was always overflowing with excited volunteers.
So then when the results of early voting came in Tuesday night I ran through the crowd to get to Sabrena. She stood alone in front of the room as if waiting for my eye contact, smile, and hug. She outreached her arms for me and I ran to my daughter. I saw grown men cry. I saw young people cry. Our Republican, Christian, conservative candidate Sabrena was geared for the big win. Loooooooooooooots of Love.
Then I saw Sabrena and her husband Mark go out in the hallway to sit alone to focus. I pulled up a chair and watched her with a Chattanooga precinct chart in her hand, She was closely observing and calculating. People began saying, oh no, what is going on. There are more votes than registered Republican voters. There was not a dry eye in the room of supporters, nor a heart that was not broken in two and shocked and in disbelief as the night went on.
Sabrena called the opponents, what composure what a lady. Hamilton County's Republican lady candidate, my lady, momma hasn't heard the fat lady sing just yet.
Brenda Turner
* * *
Dear Brenda Turner,
In reply to your letter, allow me to begin by congratulating you for raising such a fine daughter, Sabrena Smedley. I have heard so many good things about her and Hamilton County is so blessed to have had her, Matt Hullander and the winner, Weston Wamp run for the Hamilton County mayor office. I too have run for elected office and there is a real disappointment in not winning the election. Sebrena has won several elections before so I think she is seasoned enough to know the will of the people spoke in this race and she is not finished if she wants to pursue another race for another position.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about crossover votes and I’m not sure why. The Democrats knew they didn’t have the candidates for this cycle so all three candidates, through supporters, called on Democrats to pull a Republican ballot and make their vote count. My experience is many crossover voters end up latching onto the party they voted for and we gain more support. There were only approximately 40,000 votes in the Republican primary this time compared to over 90,000 votes in the 2020 election cycle. Since Tennessee does not register voters as Republican or Democrat, voters just have to declare which party ballot they want to vote in a primary. There are a lot of good people in this county who have voted on the Democrat ballot for years and we need to welcome them over to vote in the Republican Party, the party which represents the middle class (working people) who have been so drastically effected by the current POTUS and his clan of money grabbers.
Think back eight years ago when Weston Wamp lost the election to the incumbent and by less than 1 percent. He knew he was destined to be a public servant and I believe the same to be true for Sabrena. There were no losers in this race, rather one with the most votes. Let’s all get behind Weston Wamp with our support.
J. Pat Williams