GOP, Democrats to field District 8 candidates
Both the Republican and Democratic parties will field their own candidates to run for the District 8 seat on the Anderson County Commission in a special election on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
During a specil caucus Friday evening, the Democrats chose Gina Grubb as their candidate.
Besides independent candidate Phil Yager, who was one of two incumbents in District 8 until last week, there will be one Republican and one Democrat running for the seat, along with any other independents who file to run by the noon deadline today (Wednesday, Sept. 9).
The winning candidate will fill the seat that was won by Democrat Elizabeth “Liz” Henry in the Aug 6 county general election.
Henry chose not to take the position, and did not appear last week (Sept. 1) to be sworn in along with other county candidates who won positions in the general election.
As of Friday afternoon, Yager was the only candidate who had successfully filed a petition to be on the Nov. 3 ballot as an independent, according to county Elections Administrator Mark Stephens.
While the Anderson County Democratic Party held its caucus Friday evening, the county Republican Party was to hold its caucus on Tuesday evening to choose its candidate.
Neither of the two party candidates is required to submit a qualifying petition with at least 25 signatures of voters registered to vote in District 8, Stephens said.
Instead, each of the policial parties must deliver a letter to the county Election Commission by the noon Wednesday deadline identifying the candidate it chose to represent the party on the Nov. 3 ballot.
In both of the party caucuses, only people currently registered to vote in District 8 were allowed to participate and choose a candidate.
Qualifying by independent candidates for the District 8 seat opened on Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Henry informed the county Election Commission by letter on Aug. 31 that for personal reasons, she would not take the oath of office on Sept. 1 with the rest of the 16 commissioners who were successful candidates in the Aug. 6 general election.
In that election, she had tied with Republican Jawrell Cook as the top vote-getters for the two seats in the district, which serves Emory Valley, Woodland and Hendrix Creek. Both received 749 votes.
Republican Don A. Layton came in third with 642 votes, followed by Yager (589 votes) and Democrat Ashley Craven (478). Craven had announced earlier, however, that she would not serve even if elected.
Both Layton and Yager said on Aug. 31 that they were “inclined to run.”
Yager said he thought the County Commission would have to authorize the special election first, and was surprised that Stephens had already called for the opening of the qualifying period.
Stephens told The Courier News that “by state law, we must hold a whole new election.”
“The seat will stay vacant until after the election,” he added.
As for Layton, a former Anderson County judge, “I’m inclined to run,” he said. “So many people did support me; a lot of people worked hard for me. Hopefully I would win this time.”
Henry had tried to suspend her campaign in July, but was too late to withdraw. She had suffered a serious injury while on an overseas trip in June, and was home recuperating. But by mid-July, she announced that she had changed her mind after having recovered from her injury more quickly than she’d expected.
The special election for the District 8 commissioner position will be only on ballots for voters residing in that district.
