Democrats a no show at Monday’s Commission Workshop

‘How we got here was not our intention’- Republican Committee Chairman Aaron Evans

By Charlotte Underwood

JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- After nearly a 30-year hiatus, Campbell County is slated to hold a Primary Election on May 5, 2026. The earliest date to pick up petitions is Dec. 22, 2025, and the deadline to have them submitted is Feb. 19, 2026, according to Administrator of Elections Director Mallory Rosenfeld.

How this came about was a hot button topic at Monday’s county commission workshop, with the Campbell County Republican Committee Chairman Aaron Evans in attendance to field questions. The Democratic Committee Chairman Joann Vaughn was not at the meeting.

At the Oct. 6 Campbell County Commission’s Legislative Affairs Committee, members approved a vote to invite the executive committees of the Campbell County Republican Party and the Campbell County Democratic Party, along with all county elected officials and the county’s administrator of elections to the county commission workshop to weigh in on the topic.

“We have questions,” said county commission chair Johnny Bruce to Evans, with the main question being why Campbell County is having a primary after nearly three decades without one.

According to Evans, the Democratic Committee requested their primary in August, and the Republican Committee met, and decided to hold theirs as well for fair representation. Evans said, the Republican Committee did vote that if the Democratic Committee rescinded its request for primaries, then the Republican Committee would do so as well.

“How we got here was not our intention … this formation of this new Democratic Party in Campbell County, some folks that we know and some we don’t, and that’s their right and their prerogative to do, it is laid out in the election law, they have the right, as well as we do, to call for the Primary. In early August, they called for their primary and that puts us in a position, so we had to make a quick decision,” Evans said.

He said the Democratic Party could call for one and have it on their own.

“As a party, it has nothing to do with me personally or what my opinions are, but as a party, what we stand for, what we believe in and what our purpose is, how can we, as the Republican Party here, not put forth our platform, our agenda in our Primary. If this Primary takes place around us, which it can, but if they go to the poll to vote and they ask for a Republican ballot and they say we only got this one, it’s not serving us, that’s how we got here,” Evans said.

He said at the Republican Committee meeting, they decided to have a primary,” but if the other side withdraws their request, the Republican Committee will withdraw its request as well,” said Evans.

He also said that the state legislature was encouraging primaries and that it was on an upswing in the state; that Campbell County was only one of 17 counties out of 95 to not hold them and that those numbers were changing with more and more counties holding them. As of now, 73 out of 95 counties hold primaries and according to Evans, that number is increasing to 90 out of 95 counties.

The state, in April, passed a law to set aside $8 million dollars in its budget to reimburse counties like Campbell, to pay for the primary election cost, which will be around $60,000.

“That money will be reimbursed to Campbell County and will have no financial impact on the county budget,” Evans said.

Chairman Bruce said he had been told that it was a one-time reimbursement and asked if that was true.

Evans said it was “about 50-50” for future primaries, “unless the legislature acts again.”

Commissioner Dewayne Baird asked where federal employees stood as far as primary elections went.

According to the Administrator of Elections Mallory Rosenfeld, the Hatch Act, in a bipartisan election, federal employees are not allowed to run. This would affect sitting county commissioner Dewayne “Mailman” Kitts who works for the U.S. Postal Service.

“The question is, will the August election be labeled as a bipartisan for the federal employee or not, that is an email question I have in right now and am waiting on an answer,” Rosenfeld said.

Chairman Bruce asked Evans about the commission passing a referendum asking the public if they were for or against having a primary.

“That’s a good thought, but the way the election laws are set up, it takes, the power in the party’s hands; it’s a good concept, but the election laws won’t let it work that way,” Evans said.

He said he knew it was going to be “aggravating” for elected officials.

“We’re talking about double the work, double the campaigning, double the signs, double the advertising, …. I get it and I sympathize with you,” Evans said.

He also said, “there is the potential for the election to be over in the primary.”

“Some county races are over in the primary,” Evans said.

Orick said he thought people would run “independent.”

According to Evans 85 percent of voters in Campbell County in the last presidential election voted Republican.

Evans said a primary election was giving people “another mechanism to practice democracy, to choose their candidates and their values, that’s where the people get to make a decision.”

“And usurping their election right or their choices is a road I don’t think we want to go down; Whether you pick a party or not or run independent, taking away that process that is available to the voter, I know all of you, and I don’t believe that’s a road that you want to go down,” Evans said.

Property Assessor Brandon Partin said the biggest complaint he heard was about political signs.

“We all know, they are going to be all over Campbell County and Kentucky,” Chairman Bruce said. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-10/14/2025-6AM)