Gibson to proceed as sheriff-elect
Tennessee Republican Primary Board, at its meeting at Tennessee Republican Party Headquarters Wednesday evening, June 10, voted unanimously to allow the May 5 Knox County Sheriff Republican primary results to stand.
There is no Democratic nominee thus far with the General Election being held in August.
“I’m just real excited that the Commission upheld exactly what Knox County voters came out to do,” Gibson told TV news staff after the meeting.
“Confidence in our election depends on citizens knowing that their votes matter, their voices are heard and their decisions are respected,” he told the Board during the meeting. “
Republican board chairman Scott Golden said the decision ultimately came down to Gibson’s margin, in which he won over 44 percent of the votes.
“The margins were there,” he said. “The victory was such that overturning it just really wasn’t an option.”
The issue went before the state board after Mike Davis, Republican candidate for sheriff, contested the May 5 election results on Thursday, May 21.
Baker maintained the election “was tainted and the election’s basic integrity was undermined” because two of the candidates, David Amburn and J.J. Jones, were indicted by the state just days after the election.
Election results showed, of the more than 44,000 people who voted, Gibson received 19,672 votes, or 44.14 percent, compared to Amburn’s 30.16 percent, Davis’ 14.2 percent and Jones’ 11.5 percent.
However, “we believe that had the voters known, at minimum back in 2025, that David Amburn and J.J. Jones were about to be indicted, it would have completely altered the shape of the entire election process and the results,” Baker said.
The Board, whose members attended both in person and electronically, had three choices on which to decide: Let the election stand with Gibson as nominee; choose another candidate among the candidates and award them the Republican nomination; or vacate the election entirely, leaving no Republican nominee for the General Election.
Baker asked for the option to vacate the election results and allow people to write in Davis or Gibson.
But, one citizen who Zoomed into the meeting said the third option could leave the door open for a Democratic candidate to be written in.
See more in next week's issue of farragutpress.
