Reaching Across The Aisle

  • Friday, May 20, 2022

What comes to mind when I hear the outcry of sore losers in a mayoral race in Hamilton County in 2022? What comes to my mind is we have had elected officials in this county dating back years who were applauded for being able to bring Republicans and Democrats together in a race for mayor, sheriff, commissioner, council person, Senator, or State Representative.

So why now does everyone on the losing side of this mayoral race, school board race, or any other think it is such a disingenuous idea? Is both parties coming together in Washington what we all beg for? We want each party to meet in the middle to get things done positively for our country and our county.

I have heard many people in the last week make racist comments about who must have crossed over to vote for Weston Wamp for him to “steal” this election. I have heard statements that he must have had many minority crossover votes. Maybe he did, but I think he probably earned those votes. Weston has said he would be a mayor to all people in this county and I think he will live what he has said.

Do you not think there were people of color - Democrat or Republican - who voted for Pat Rose, H.Q. Evatt, Dalton Roberts, Claude Ramsey, Bob Corker, Jim Hammond, or Zach Wamp? The list goes on and on. These people were championed for their ability to reach across the aisle for the good of our county/city.

But please don’t think minorities are the only Dems that crossed over to vote for Weston. As I was at the election commission to early vote, there were Caucasian senior adults telling the workers they normally voted on the opposing ticket, but this time they would like a Republican ballot. The female who is claiming that Weston used under-handed tactics to beat her is just wrong. I am a Christian white female (between 40-60) who for the most part votes Republican, but who has voted for a Democrat in local races when I thought they were the better candidate.

That being said, I was Team Sabrena until about six weeks before the election. I listened intently to everything each candidate spoke about., how they answered questions, etc. It became clear to me that Weston really was the best candidate. To me, he won the debates hands down. I probably personally know 50+ voters, all of them Caucasian, who either Sabrena had their vote, or they were undecided; but a month prior to the election decided Weston was their candidate. Their reasons were like mine, but some thought she went too far in ads, calling herself the only Christian conservative in the race. Really? I would say all three of the candidates would categorize themselves as Christian conservatives.

So please accept that Mr. Wamp is the winner. It was an election and he won. Be a gracious loser, move on. Let Weston get on with pulling his team together and making plans for how to better our county, instead of having to listen to these insulting comments every day and give statements to the press. After all, what’s the tag line of our Hamilton County Republican party? Oh yes, be a “Reagan Republican”- or is that just a tag line when everything is going your way?

Lisa Taylor

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