CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Thursday night’s Montgomery County General Election and State Primary brought major shifts in local leadership, a Democratic-majority on the County Commission and results that closely tracked statewide trends. Here are six highlights from Election Night:
1. Democrats flip 4 seats, take control of County Commission
The 21-member County Commission, previously split evenly among Republicans, Democrats and independents, now has a Democratic majority: 11 Democrats, seven Republicans and three independents.
| MORE: Election results: Oliver wins sheriff, Golden re-elected, 3 commissioners unseated
Both parties won five races, but Democrats flipped four: two from independents and two from Republicans. Lekeshia Hicks unseated incumbent Republican Jorge Padro in District 9 and Tiffany Manning defeated incumbent independent Ryan Gallant in District 18.
Dr. David Kanervo, emeritus political science professor at Austin Peay State University, told Clarksville Now the results indicate a “resurgence in the (local) Democratic Party,” saying many voters “want to see something different happening in Montgomery County right now.”
| MORE: ‘They have to come to us now’: Democrats win majority in County Commission
He said the shift may reflect frustration with national issues such as inflation and economic uncertainty. Locally, Kanervo pointed to rapid growth, “major traffic congestion” and rising housing costs as factors weighing on voters. “There’s just a lot of unhappiness about what’s going on in the country and a desire for change,” he said.
In July 2025, a housing needs assessment revealed both the city and county are growing by 5,000-6,000 people a year, according to previous reports. The assessment also found the city would need roughly 7,600 additional housing units just to keep pace.
2. GOP holds countywide offices as Golden, Oliver win
Republican Mayor Wes Golden was re-elected with 58% of the vote, defeating Democrat Isaac Greenwood, who received 31%. Kanervo said the margin was narrower than expected, noting Greenwood “did very little campaigning” yet still drew significant support.
| MORE: ‘It’s an honor to keep serving’: Golden re-elected as County mayor
Republican Mike Oliver won the sheriff’s race with 43%, defeating independents Johnny Ransdell and Dexter Mines.
“It shows the dominance, once again, of the Republican Party in this county,” Kanervo said. He noted that Oliver’s disciplinary record “seemed to be of no consequence” to voters. “And that’s their right to decide who they want, irregardless of background issues, but that’s something that stuck out to me,” Kanervo said.
| MORE: ‘It’s an ecstatic feeling’: Mike Oliver elected sheriff | PHOTOS
3. School Board shifts after months of controversy
Democrats won three of four races for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board, flipping one seat and narrowing the board’s Republican majority from 5-2 to 4-3. Darryl Anderson unseated incumbent Republican Teresa Crosslin with 66% of the vote.
Kanervo said concerns about school vouchers may have driven support for Democratic candidates. “Montgomery County was one of the areas that has not endorsed vouchers and that has not wanted educational institutions outside of those traditional public schools,” he said.
The board has also faced mounting criticism and calls for new leadership in recent months following the Kenwood Middle School bus crash and arrest of former teacher Matthew Vedder, the husband of Director of Schools Dr. Jean Luna-Vedder, for showing obscene material to a student.
“There’s a real desire for reversing the direction we have been going in,” he said.
4. Montgomery County mirrors state trends in governor primaries
Kanervo said Montgomery County voters were fairly consistent with statewide results.
Democratic candidate for governor Jerri Green swept in the statewide primary with 69% of votes and 60% in Montgomery County. Kanervo said this was no surprise considering she was the only Democratic candidate to his knowledge that visited Montgomery County.
| MORE: How Montgomery County voted in governor, Congress, Senate primaries
However, he said Green faces “an uphill battle” against Republican nominee Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
Blackburn won the primary with 44% statewide, while opponent John Rose was not far behind with 33%. “She was considered early on as an overwhelming favorite,” Kanervo said. “And certainly she won, but she didn’t win by an overwhelming margin. So we’ll see how that plays out over the next couple of months.”
Blackburn performed better locally, receiving 55% of votes in Montgomery County. Kanervo said her frequent visits and name recognition likely boosted her local support, noting she was previously the U.S. representative for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District for 16 years, which stretches through parts of Clarksville.
“Again, with the desire for change that I see happening … it might turn out to be a very interesting race, and perhaps a little bit closer than perhaps a lot of people are thinking,” he said.
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5. Hatcher narrowly defeats Ogles as redistricting reshapes District 5
Republican Dr. Charlie Hatcher unseated incumbent Republican Andy Ogles in the District 5 primary. Hatcher won 52% of the vote in Montgomery County and 53% statewide.
“Part of Montgomery County, which is in the 5th District, is a more rural part of the county,” Kanervo said. “Hatcher, of course, was the commissioner of agriculture. So he would be perhaps better known than Ogles in that part of the county because of his work in agriculture.”
He said endorsements from Gov. Bill Lee and former Gov. Bill Haslam likely helped Hatcher. Kanervo also noted Ogles has faced legal scrutiny publicly in recent years.
The race also played out against the backdrop of a district reshaped by redistricting, which placed Montgomery County’s northern corner into a seat stretching through parts of Middle Tennessee into West Tennessee. Once centered almost entirely on Nashville, the 5th District now runs through counties like Williamson and Stewart and reaches southwest into Tipton County near the Memphis area.
Kanervo said the new boundaries placed disparate communities together in ways that “don’t make a lot of sense.”
“The districts are so widespread now that you’re combining middle and west Tennessee – parts of the district that are not similar and they are not familiar with each other,” he said, adding that people have different voting patterns, interests and concerns within the broadly based districts.
6. What was voter turnout in Montgomery County?
Voter turnout in Montgomery County for the County General Election and State Primary was 16.1%. Turnout in the 2022 County General Election and State Primary was 12.5%, marking a slight uptick this cycle.
Kanervo said Montgomery County has a reputation of being the “lowest voting county in a low-voting state.”
“I think there are certainly opportunities for people to come out and make their voices heard,” Kanervo said. “And I hope that will happen in the November election.”
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