Knoxville's Mayoral and Council Candidates

After a small flurry of petition gathering and filing over the past few weeks, the field of candidates for this fall’s Knoxville city elections has turned out to be more crowded and colorful than expected. With the exception of the 5th District City Council seat, which has just one official candidate, the contests feature an array of personalities and faces that could make for some lively discussion. Now all they have to do is get anyone to listen.

Here’s a quick rundown of the races and the people involved:

As we expected a few months ago, we head into the summer with five declared candidates for mayor. But it’s not quite the five we thought. There’s Madeline Rogero, the former county commissioner and city administrator who ran a strong race against Bill Haslam in 2003 before going to work for him a few years later; Mark Padgett, the young buck getting his political feet wet with an ambitious and impressively well-funded run; Ivan Harmon, the veteran office-holder (you name the office, he’s held it) who retired from the city’s Stormwater Division this year; and Bo Bennett, the 24-year-old 911 dispatcher and black-belt martial artist who is filling the requisite long-shot “Who?” niche this year.

The fifth contender was supposed to be City Councilwoman Marilyn Roddy, who entered the race early and was the overall fund-raising leader through the first two rounds of campaign finance disclosures. But then Roddy dropped out, running instead for Jamie Woodson’s vacated state Senate seat. For a little while, there was talk of some big-name mystery candidate who would have the backing of people in the business community and/or West Knoxville who were unsatisfied with the existing field. That never happened. Instead, the last-minute entrant was former City Councilman Joe Hultquist, the South Knoxville growth and planning wonk who said he was concerned that important issues were going undiscussed.

In a phone interview, Hultquist says his surprise run is entirely in earnest. “I just couldn’t get a good comfort level” with the tone of the race so far, he says, “and I feel too passionately about the city and where it’s going.” Particular areas of concern include transportation planning and ongoing city projects like the (stalled) South Waterfront and the redesign of Cumberland Avenue.

Public reaction to Hultquist’s announcement has so far been muted, but several community and neighborhood activists who supported him in his City Council runs are already committed to Rogero. “I think some people who supported me before probably are supporting other candidates,” he says, “and that’s something I don’t take lightly. How that will play out in the election remains to be seen.

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

Well, Maestro Richman is a very busy man. Busy winning Grammies, busy having his picture put on billboards, busy having a day designated as “Lucas Richman Day”..... it’s no wonder that he hasn’t had time to do an interview about his Grammy. But I would definitely like to share this photo of the Maestro and his bling and comment about these other honors. At the Knoxville Symphony League luncheon last month, Knoxville Mayor Dan Brown proclaimed May 18th “Lucas Richman Day, and County Mayor Tim Burchett named the next day as “Lucas Richman Day” in the county. Senator Lamar Alexander sent a representative to the luncheon to honor Lucas’ Grammy award. In a tender ceremony, 5-year-old Maggie Davis presented Lucas with a rose and a drawing she did depicting her attendance at a Family Concert which inspired her to want to start playing the violin. Congratulations Lucas!!!

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