CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – There weren’t many surprises in the results from Tuesday night’s election in Clarksville, but those results say some interesting things about where we are as a community, and in some cases how much times have changed. Here are my top takeaways:

1. If it ain’t broke, re-elect it

For all the vitriol that a small number of city-level political insiders have thrown around during this election (mainly on social media), none of it translated to votes. Instead, voters quietly pushed the button for establishment City Council incumbents.

All facing political newcomers, Wanda Smith won with 50.3% in a three-way race, Travis Holleman won with 58%, and Stacey Streetman won with 76%. Each of them have been aligned with Mayor Joe Pitts on most City Council decisions.

As state Rep. Curtis Johnson put it, referring to his state House victory, “What we’ve got is really good. I mean, all you have to do is look around. I think they wanted more of the same.”

MORE: Election results: Final results for all Clarksville races, plus governor and Congress

2. Don’t call it a mandate?

Let’s add this up: Mayor Joe Pitts issued a shelter-at-home order during the COVID-19 pandemic. He raised taxes, albeit to pay for a well-received road improvement plan. He fought and lost on a move to spend $6 million on a new parking deck, with the money instead diverted to sidewalks near schools. That sounds like a recipe for a mayoral candidate in trouble with the electorate.

Instead, Pitts won with 55% of the vote in a three-way race, and his main opponent, David Allen, mustered only 34%. And the City Council candidates who were aligned with Pitts on most issues easily won re-election as well.

That solid victory bodes well for Pitts’ agenda over the next term, which could include the long-promised downtown performing arts center, along with continued efforts to improve Clarksville’s streets and sidewalks.

MORE: Mayor Joe Pitts returns to office: ‘We’re proud of our record, and that’s what we’ve run on’

3. Write-in victory

After narrowly losing her bid in August for the Republican nomination in the new District 75, Deanna McLaughlin decided to jump back into city politics. Late in the cycle, the Ward 2 seat had come open after Councilman Vondell Richmond was deemed ineligible to run for re-election. McLaughlin, a former council member, stepped up to run as a write-in candidate, along with four other contenders.

The results showed just how hard it is to get write-in votes. While McLaughlin had 267 people fill in her name, her closest contender drew only 24. The final three finishers had a paltry 7 votes, 1 vote and 1 vote. We can assume those last two candidates wrote in their own names.

MORE: 4 candidates sail through uncontested races for City Council, state House seats

4. District 67 stays blue

The most hotly contested race in Montgomery County was the one for state House District 67, between Democrat Ronnie Glynn and Republican Tommy Vallejos. 67 has been held by Democrats for several terms, including outgoing Rep. Jason Hodges, and before him Joe Pitts and Kim McMillan.

This time, though, the Democrat candidate won by the slimmest of margins: 153 votes out of 11,399 that were cast. The seat was open, so that could have narrowed the margin. Also, while Vallejos is a well-known name in local politics, having tried multiple times to win the House seat and with years on the County Commission, Glynn is more of a newcomer, which likely cut into his support.

MORE: Democrat Ronnie Glynn narrowly defeats Tommy Vallejos for state House: ‘I felt relieved’

5. Red, but how red are we?

While District 67 – the core of Clarksville – has remained blue, Montgomery County as a whole is reliably red. Not as red, though, as you might think.

For example, in statewide races, look at our percentage of support for Republican Gov. Bill Lee vs. Democrat Jason Martin compared to that of our immediate neighbors:

  • Montgomery: 60-36
  • Stewart: 80-18
  • Houston: 74-23
  • Dickson: 74-24
  • Cheatham: 71-27
  • Robertson: 76-22

Compared to our more rural – and in some cases suburban – neighbors, we’re not so bright red.

Look at the same comparison to the 10 largest Tennessee cities, and their corresponding counties, in order of size.

  • Davidson (Nashville): 63-34
  • Shelby (Memphis): 55-43
  • Knox (Knoxville): 60-38
  • Hamilton (Chattanooga): 60-38
  • Montgomery (Clarksville): 60-36
  • Rutherford (Murfreesboro): 62-36
  • Williamson (Franklin): 68-31
  • Washington (Johnson City): 69-29
  • Madison (Jackson): 64-34
  • Sumner (Hendersonville): 72-26

By that comparison, you could argue that while Memphis is Tennessee’s most left-friendly city, it’s followed by a cluster of Knoxville, Chattanooga and Clarksville, with Murfreesboro and Nashville not far behind.

It was telling to watch the statewide returns come in live Tuesday night. It appeared that many of the suburban votes came in first, and for about an hour they had both Lee and Congressman Mark Green ahead in their respective races with about 75% of the vote. But when the first batch of Montgomery County votes landed, those statewide totals for Lee and Green each dropped by about 10 percentage points.

MORE: Rep. Curtis Johnson wins again: ‘What we’ve got is really good’

6. Voter turnout lowest in decades

Voter turnout on for Tuesday’s election was 29.78%. That’s certainly better than the August election (12.46%) and far better than the May county primary (8.11%). But it’s dismal for a mid-term November election, with city mayor on the ballot, dating back to the last five similar ballots:

  • 2006: 48.41%
  • 2010: 33.76%
  • 2014: 29.87%
  • 2018: 47.77%
  • 2022: 29.78%

Maybe it’s because our city mayor’s race this time was a shoe-in. The 2018 ballot had a high-profile race between Pitts and then-Mayor Kim McMillan. 2018 also had a hot open governor’s race between Bill Lee and Karl Dean.

One would hope that all voters would get exercise their hard-won right to vote in every election. But sadly, voter excitement isn’t so easily won.

7. Drink up, Montgomery County

The item on the ballot that will have the biggest impact locally barely drew any attention. It was a referendum on selling liquor by the drink in Montgomery County outside the city limits, effectively introducing full-service bars – and restaurants with liquor on the menu – in suburban and rural Montgomery County.

This referendum generated almost no opposition, and it passed in a landslide, 75% to 25%. Is that a sign that the Bible Belt has slipped off of Montgomery County, or that alcohol-as-The-Devil is no longer a thing in the Bible Belt? Probably a cocktail of both.