farragutpress

New aldermen find early success

August 12, 2026 by Jake Nichols

In the 2026 election cycle, three shakeups occurred within local offices.

For the two newly-elected Farragut aldermen, their first full entrances into the political arena resulted in a pair of knockout blows — making each man one-for-one in his political endeavors.

Incoming North Ward 1 alderman Joey Ruffalo dipped a toe into the pool when he entered the 2024 race for the same position. But family obligations pulled him out before the deadline, meaning this win — by a a slim margin of 51.58 percent to opponent Dian Hall’s 48.42 percent — follows his first fully-completed run through the election cycle.

“It was a close race,” Ruffalo said on

Friday, Aug. 7, after his victory had gone final. “My opponent, Dian, it was great to get to know her in this process. She’s a fantastic person, and I hope she stays involved with the Town. For us, we ran a great campaign, both very civil. And she even came to bat a few times when people posted things that weren’t true, calling me and telling me she told them to take it down.”

In the South Ward 2 race, Greg Wiberley won by a similarly small margin over Joe LaCroix, earning 1,516 votes for 51.79 percent to LaCroix’s 1,411 votes for a total of 48.21 percent.

“When voting was going on, Joe LaCroix and I met on Thursday, and he was gracious enough to thank me for running a clean campaign,” Wiberley said. 

Each winner’s background brought plenty of lessons throughout the campaign.  

Ruffalo noted “perseverance and persistence” proved key through his run, especially since the same issues that pulled him out in 2024 resurfaced this time.

“When we moved here, I tried two years ago to run,” he explained. “I turned in my petition and withdrew before the deadline, as my wife had to undergo surgery and it wasn’t the right time.”

“So I supported (mayor-elect and former North Ward alderman) Alex Cain, and when this opportunity came around this time, I decided to run again and give it a shot. In the middle of this process, we found out my wife needed another surgery. So she said, ‘You better win because I’m not having a surgery every two years. I’d rather have it every four years.’

“Where we lived previously, there was not an opportunity to be involved or make a difference,” he added. “When we moved, we knew that we wanted to serve that community to the best of our ability. And this is how I knew how to serve people — to be a listener and a conduit for people.”

Aside from his newfound political office, Ruffalo is a financial professional, author and podcast and radio host who offers advice through his network, The Prosperity Lounge.

Throughout the campaign, he found himself on the other side of the microphone.

“Being on the other side, I have to think, ‘Oh, this is what it feels like,’” he said. “So that has really helped me grow as a person in the community and what I do professionally.”

Wiberley, a well-known youth coach in the area, brings plenty of lessons from his own career into this job, too.

“The same values I brought to coaching, I brought to the campaign: play fair, play nice, you win, you win, and if you lose, you lose,” he said. “I’ve been a project manager most of my life, and you use some of those same skills in coaching. You have to get along with all sorts of people and you certainly have to mentor people. You don’t criticize them, just build them up to be the best they can be, and I think the campaign reflected that.”

Wiberley noted his political involvement stemmed from an altercation with the Town, beginning with a zoning issue.

“I needed to get involved because it initially started with what the Town tried to do to me,” he said. “They tried to change my zoning without telling me, then sent me a letter of eminent domain to take part of our property for a greenway. It’s just been a constant battle with them for four or five years, and as my problems developed, I was in contact with other people in Farragut going through the same thing. 

“I thought, ‘This isn’t right,’ and a lot of people felt defenseless. So I rallied to their cause ,as well as mine. It seemed a natural extension that I could do more in the Town of Farragut administration than trying to fight it.”

Ruffalo called the one-for-one aspect “humbling,” noting he has “always been politically-minded, putting service above self and wondering how I could give back to my community and help others.”

Wiberley cited a similar

willingness to give back, referencing the issues that brought him to this point in the first place.  

“It’s really not about me. It’s about the causes I represent,” he said. “I’m not doing handstands for myself; I’m very happy for the people who got behind me. We started out as a group of maybe four or five, and from there, it blossomed into a very effective campaign team that’s now a transition team. I think the same structure that we brought to the campaign, we’ll bring to administering the Town.”