In the only contested area primary race for the newly created District 1, the State Senate race is beginning to heat up just before the Aug. 4 primary. With no incumbent candidate, the two Republican candidates are aggressively beating the bushes with flyers being mailed to the households and attending public and community events.
The winner of the primary will face Dr. Patricia Waters in November.
Mark Hall, state representative from Bradley County who chose to run for the open Senate seat rather than run for re-election, said he should be the one to win the race because he is from Bradley County. He made the remarks at the Bradley County Republican Women’s Lunch, which was carried live on WCLE Radio.
Rep. Hall served as seventh district commissioner from 2006 to 2018 when he ran for state representative. During his time as state representative, he authored Joker’s Law. This bill increased the penalties for those who harm a law enforcement or service animal in Tennessee. It increases it from a class A misdemeanor to a Class D felony. The law gained national attention and it put Tennessee in the headlines as being tough on crime. According to state law, a class D Felony conviction carries a punishment of between two and 12 years in prison along with fines up to $5,000.
He also touts that he is a Marine veteran and small business owner. He is a barber at Mark’s Barber Shop in Cleveland.
Adam Lowe lives in Calhoun, Tn., just across the Bradley County line. He did live in Bradley County for 20 years and served one term on the County Commission with Mr. Hall. Mr. Lowe ran unsuccessfully for state representative in 2014.
The graduate of Lee College has a Master's in Public Administration from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a PHD in education leadership and public policy studies from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is an author, college educator, and while on the Bradley County Commission, he served as vice chairman, chairman of the education committee and on the committees for finance, law enforcement and juvenile services.
He also is known for his work as a small businessman and conservative talk radio host for Talk 101.3.
Dr. Lowe also serves as a faculty member in public policy at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., and at Montreat College in Asheville, N.C. He was also director of the Cleveland State Community College Foundation dealing with workforce and scholarship initiatives. During this time, he stewarded the Bradley Achieves scholarship program and helped catalyze programs in the workforce.
Four published debates were scheduled for the two candidates - at Bradley, McMinn and Rhea counties along with one by WCLE radio in Cleveland. Both candidates were invited, but just prior to all four events, Rep. Hall said he had last minute scheduling conflicts.
The Senate District is composed of Bradley, McMinn, Meigs and Rhea counties. Bradley is the largest with 110,162 residents and 75,436 voters. As of Friday, Bradley had only 4,470 early voters. McMinn, with 54,059 residents and 31,982 registered voters only had 1,948 voted as of Friday morning. Rhea County has 33,136 residents and 20,567 registered voters. Rhea is coming close to Bradley in early voting with 2,872 as of Friday morning. With 13,049 persons and only 8,100 registered voters, Meigs County is the smallest in the district. As of Friday morning, 863 had voted.
County officials and citizens of Rhea and Meigs are concerned about losing representation in Nashville. Rhea is coming out from under the wing of current 12th District Senator Ken Yager from Roane County. Yager has treated Rhea County over the years with grants and projects, including assisting in getting Nokian Tires which currently employees around 500 people. Meigs and McMinn County are losing retiring Senator Mike Bell from Riceville.
Dr. Waters is a retired professor from Troy University in Troy, Ala. She has also taught at the University of Alabama and Tennessee Wesleyan. She has her bachelor of arts in English from Memphis State, Masters and PHD from University of Tennessee at Knoxville. While in Memphis she taught French and English in high school and a community college and “became a community activist in revitalizing downtown Memphis.”
Dr. Waters states in her webpage that she moved back to her home in Athens in 2019.
All three candidates have been out fundraising. Dr. Waters' contributors are mostly retired teachers and professors with her largest contribution of $1,000 coming from a retired teacher from California.
Dr. Lowe’s contributors are mostly Cleveland, Athens and Dayton residents with only one PAC, Team Kid Pac of Nashville donating $1,200. Team Kid PAC is an educational political action group that according to their website wants to secure effective education for all Tennessee students.
Rep. Hall's list is a virtual Who’s ho of Tennessee legislators and Political Action Committees. With most donating either $1,000 or $500.
So far Rep. Hall leads the other two candidates with over $69,000 which includes a $8,000 loan from himself. His Republican primary counterpart has raised $60,000. Dr, Waters has raised only $2,095, she reported.