Tracking the 2020 election results
Looking for the election results? Welcome to the party. We’re still waiting for the final word on a few races, and you can join us in anticipation by following along here.
2020 election guide
We want you to be ready to cast your ballot with all the confidence in the world, so we’re breaking down all the 2020 election must-knows for you. In Tennessee, you’ll be voting for United States senators + House members, and of course, the President of the United States.
Some locals will also vote in smaller town elections and on amendments.
In this guide, you’ll find registration + polling information, maps of local voting districts, a breakdown of candidate priorities, a timeline of important dates, and an election dictionary of terms you should know.
Basically, if you have a question about the upcoming election, this is your resource. So go ahead and bookmark it, and as always, reach out to us if you have any questions we didn’t answer.
Head to the polls
Not sure if you’re registered to vote? Check here.
Need to register? Learn how to do that here. Note: You have until Oct. 5 to register.
Need an absentee ballot? Read all about how to get one here.
Waiting until election day? Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.. If you’re in line by 8 p.m., you will be able to vote. Note: Early voting polling places may be different from voting day polling places. Find your polling place here.
Looking for COVID-19 safety information? Find coronavirus updates from the Tennessee Election Commission here.
Candidates by district
Raise your hand if you’re a visual learner. 🙋♀️ To determine your districts, check out the maps + resources below, then use your districts to identify your candidates.
You can also identify your voting districts by checking your voter registration status or sample ballot. Find information on how congressional and state legislative district boundaries are established here.
Tennessee US Congressional districts
Tennessee House districts
Tennessee Senate districts
Hamilton County Congressional districts
Meet the candidates
Since you probably already know about the presidential candidates, we’re focusing on what you need to know on a local level. Keep reading for a breakdown of Tennessee’s U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, and state senate races + candidates in other municipal elections. To identify candidate priorities, we relied on verified candidate questionnaires submitted to the nonpartisan site Ballotpedia + issues listed directly on candidate websites or campaign Facebook pages.
Note: Candidates are listed alphabetically by last name, with the incumbent always the first listed.
US Senate
Marquita Bradshaw — Democrat | Priorities: human rights + environmental justice advocate; medicare for all; fully funded quality education; living wages + worker’s rights
Yomi “Fapas” Faparusi Sr. — Independent | Priorities: Affordable healthcare; socioeconomic equity; addressing illegal immigration; supporting small business
Jeffrey Alan Grunau — Independent | Priorities: Economic security; national debt reduction; creating “a society of well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking.”
Bill Hagerty — Republican | Priorities: Support and strengthen the police force; end human trafficking + illegal immigration; fiscal conservative — keep the government out of the free market
Ronnie Henley — Independent | Priorities: Federal job guarantee; healthcare/medicare for all; education; infrastructure/modernization; war on poverty; Green New Deal
Dean Hill — Independent | Priorities: Preventing “group thought” that is perpetuated by the two-party system
Steven J. Hooper — Independent | No information available.
Aaron James — Independent | Priorities: Political reform + eliminating the two-party system; climate change; keeping the electorate informed
Elizabeth McLeod — Independent | Priorities: Restoring fiscal responsibility to D.C.; public safety; making Americans healthier to reduce healthcare costs
Kacey Morgan — Independent | Priorities: Take money out of politics; set term limits for Senate and Congress; major infrastructure investments
Eric William Stansberry — Independent | No information available.
Tennessee State Senate
District 10
Todd Gardenhire — Republican (incumbent)| Priorities: Lower taxes; improved education; modernized health care
Glenn Scruggs — Democrat | Priorities: Fully funded public schools; common sense criminal justice reforms; and economic mobility in Tennessee
District 11
This election will take place in 2022.
TN US House Representatives
3rd Congressional District
Charles J. Fleischmann — Republican (incumbent) | Priorities: Fiscally and socially conservative policies; end illegal immigration; cut taxes + grow economy through small business support
Meg Gorman — Democrat | Priorities: Enact and enforce term limits for all appointments and elected positions; quality education; affordable housing; comprehensive health care; fair pay; demonetize incarceration
Amber Hysell — Independent | Priorities: Climate change; infrastructure maintenance; ethical immigration practices; pro-human rights; supports term limits
Keith Douglas Sweitzer — Independent | Priorities: Protect + improve lives of minorities; climate change; people over politics; living wages and worker’s rights
TN House of Representatives
District 26
Robin T. Smith — Republican (incumbent) | Priorities: patient-driven healthcare, lower taxes + less tax regulation; family values; Second-Amendment rights
Joan Farrell — Democrat | Priorities: To have a living wage for every Tennessean; protection of workers’ rights; expanding healthcare; more funding for public schools
District 27
Patsy Hazlewood — Republican | Unopposed | No information available
District 28
Yusuf Hakeem — Democrat | Unopposed | Priorities: Increased job training and affordable housing opportunities;quality schools; prison reform
District 29
Mike Carter — Independent | Unopposed | Priorities: constitutional liberties; fiscal responsibility; wants to stop “government overreach”
District 30
Esther Helton — Republican | Priorities: Health care reform; and more support for public education.
Joseph Udeaja — Democrat | Priorities: Better healthcare; more local jobs; more community involvement; a better environment; and improved education.
Local municipality elections
City of Collegedale
Commissioners (You can vote for three)
City of East Ridge
City council (You can vote for two)
Denny Manning
City of Lakesite
Commissioners (You can vote for three)
Bobby Bishop
Valerie J. Boddy
William “Bill” Neighbors
City of Red Bank
Commissioner at Large (Vote for one)
Rick Causer
Pete Phillips
District 1 (Vote for one)
District 2 (Vote for one)
Bill Cannon
Town of Signal Mountain
Town council (You can vote for three)
Cheryl Graham
City of Soddy-Daisy
Commissioners (You can vote for three)
Town of Walden
Mayor (You can vote for one)
William Trohanis
Alderman (an elected member of a municipal council, vote for one)
If you are a candidate mentioned in this guide and you would like to clarify the priorities identified for your campaign, please let us know.
Understanding the amendments
We’re here to help you cut through those “extra big words,” and just tell you exactly what these amendments you’re voting on mean.
City of Chattanooga Municipal Charter Amendments
Ordinance No. 13192: Home Rule Charter | ✅ Voting for the amendment would mean you support the idea that a person running for city office would be disqualified if their political activity interfered with state business prohibited by Tennessee or federal law. It would also mean that you support the idea that anyone employed by the County, State or Federal Government may also run for a City publicly elected office.
✅ Voting against the amendment means you are not in favor of changing language in the city charter (Sec. 3.1). This would mean that County, State, or Federal Government employees would not be able to keep their position of employment for any federal, state, or county government and also run for City Council.
Ordinance No. 13555: Police Advisory and Review Committee | ✅ Voting yes to this amendment would establish a Police Advisory and Review Committee aimed at strengthening the relationships between citizens of the City of Chattanooga and the Chattanooga Police Department + ensure a timely review of citizen complaints, while also protecting individual rights of police officers.
✅ Voting no would mean you don’t want to establish this committee.
East Ridge Ordinance No. 1133: Residency requirement | East Ridge Ordinance No. 1133: Residency requirement | ✅ If you vote for this amendment, you agree to remove the requirement that East Ridge city judges must live in East Ridge and agree instead that they can be elected if they have lived anywhere in Hamilton County for at least one year.
✅ If you vote against the amendment, you don’t want to make that change.
Note: None of these amendments would have a substantial impact on the respective city budgets.
General Election timeline
Mark your calendars. 🗓️ Find all of your General Election voting dates + deadlines listed below.
National:
Sept. 22: National Voter Registration Day
Nov. 3: Election Day
Nov. 4: Preliminary results expected; certified results could take longer
Tennessee:
- Oct. 5: Voter registration deadline online, in-person + postmarked by mail
- Oct. 14: Early voting available
- Oct. 27: Absentee ballot request deadline
- Oct. 29: Early voting ends
- Nov. 3: Absentee ballot return deadline, close of polls
Election dictionary
As we get deeper into the election cycle, there’s a lot of terminology circulating out there, and we want to make sure you have a (somewhat) comprehensive resource to help you discern some meaning from it all. We give you NOOGAtoday’s election dictionary — or, if you’ll indulge us, our electionary. If we missed a word or phrase you’ve been wondering about, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments section to let us know. Source: Votesmart.org
Absentee voting — Similar to mail-in voting, this process allows voters to submit their ballot through the mail or in-person, without going to the polls on Election Day.
Bond — A debt security issued by a local, state, or national government to support spending toward specific government programs or obligations. Often requires constituent support and appears on ballots for voter determination.
Certified results — The final and official results of an election, as verified by the local elections office. These results confirm that all ballots have been counted.
Citizen — Any person who is a legally-recognized member of a locality, state, or country. Except under exclusionary circumstances, all citizens have the right to exercise their vote.
Congressional districts — The US is divided into 435 jurisdictions for the purposes of electing members to the House of Representatives in Congress. Each district is meant to be proportionately sized for its resident population.
Constituents — The voters within a specific locality or district; the people elected officials represent.
Electoral College — The voters of each state that formally elect the United States President and Vice President. Each state has as many electoral college votes as it does U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators in Congress combined.
General election — A regular election between candidates of multiple parties, as opposed to a primary election where the candidates are within the same political party.
House of Representatives — One of two houses within the federal branch of government called Congress. Each state has representatives based on its population.
Incumbent — If a candidate running for election is also the current seat-holder for that position, they are called the incumbent.
Mail-in ballot — An official ballot that is submitted to the local elections board by mail instead of in-person at a designated polling place.
Polling place — A designated location where voters cast their ballots in-person on Election Day or during an early voting period.
Popular vote — The raw number of votes cast by individual voters within a locality, state, or country. Within the US system of voting, the popular vote can differ from the deciding votes of the Electoral College.
Preliminary results — The projected or anticipated results of an election, usually announced when the majority of districts are reporting. These results are not definitive and can change as ballots continue to be processed and counted on or after Election Day.
Referendum — The legal process of submitting to the voters for their approval or rejection of proposed state proposed state or local laws or constitutional amendments.
Senate — One of two houses within the federal branch of government called Congress. Each state has two senators.
Swing state — Any US state where the level of support for two major political parties is considered to be fairly equal on both sides.
Unaffiliated voters — Voters who are not registered to vote with a specific political party are called unaffiliated.
Voter turnout — The percentage of registered, eligible voters within a locality who cast a ballot during any given election.
This is part of our ongoing election coverage. You can learn more about our Editorial Ethics Policy and how we prioritize information regarding the upcoming elections here.
Poll
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