Incumbent Democrat Bo Mitchell beat Republican challenger and District 10 Metro Councilmember Jennifer Frensely Webb by 10 points to retain his seat as state house District 50 representative.
“We’ve got most of the precincts in and right now we’re up by 11 percent, about three thousand votes. We don’t think there’s three thousand votes outstanding, so we win,” Mitchell said shortly after the early vote totals came out close to 8 p.m.
“Now let’s sit here and pray for this,” Mitchell said, gesturing towards the the presidential race on the TV.
Tensions were high in that race from the beginning, when Mitchell challenged Webb’s qualifying petition, which required 25 signatures to be valid. Webb acquired 31 signatures, but with the help of a handwriting expert, Mitchell challenged the validity of those signatures, and at a later hearing one of the signers admitted under oath to also signing his son’s name, which is a felony.
While the Davidson County Election Commission allowed Webb’s candidacy to go forward, there is an ongoing legal dispute in Davidson County Chancery Court over the signatures.
Aside from the legal challenges, Mitchell also outraised Webb, more than doubling her numbers with the backing of local PAC’s. Mitchell raised $95,617 and spent $25,100 in the third quarter of the year, with just over $70,000 coming from PACs. Webb raised $42,813 and spent $16,554, with only $1,000 coming from PACs.
Mitchell’s election night party at Tailgate Brewery was nervy, but not for his race. Dozens of Mitchell supporters donned in Kamala Harris gear were confident that early voting numbers would seal the deal long before they came out, and had already moved on to focusing on the presidential race.
But over at Plaza Mexican Grill, a small gathering of Webb supporters — mostly her family — were nervous from the outset.
“If early voting ain’t equal, then I’m going to lose,” Webb said before the early vote was announced. Over the next hour, she and her son repeatedly brought out a pen and paper to jot down results from campaign workers long before any results had come out. When early voting was announced, the energy left the room.
Webb and Mitchell, who waged a contentious race, did not exchange any phone calls.
“I didn’t get dirty like he did with all the lies,” Webb told supporters. “I stayed true to who I was. We’ll be back. Now people know my name. People are going to have to come up with a pretty strong Democrat.”
Here’s a look at some of the other key local races.
House District 52
In District 52, Democratic incumbent Rep. Justin Jones beat Republican Challenger Laura Nelson as expected.
In a heavily blue district, Jones gained national attention following his short-lived expulsion from the Tennessee House in 2023. During that time he raised more than a million dollars. He managed to win this race while barely spending any of that money, and is still sitting on nearly a million dollars.
Jones spent much of the week in the Midwest on the campaign trail for Vice President Kamala Harris.
House District 53
In District 53, Democratic incumbent Rep. Jason Powell beat Republican challenger Yog Nepal to maintain his seat. Powell has represented the heavily blue district since 2012. Ruben Dockery ran as an independent.
House District 51
In District 51, Democratic incumbent Aftyn Behn defeated independent Jeff Ketelsen. Behn had 77 percent of the vote with 61 percent of votes counted.
Unopposed
In House Districts 54, 55, 56, 58 and 59, Democrats Vincent Dixie, John Ray Clemmons, Bob Freeman, Harold M. Love Jr., and Caleb Hemmer each respectively won their elections unopposed.
Senate
In the only local state Senate race, District 20 Democratic incumbent Heidi Campbell beat Republican Challenger Wyatt Rampy by 58.8 percent 41.2 percent with 60 percent of the vote counted. Campbell has held the seat since 2020, when she flipped the district from red to blue with a victory over Steve Dickerson.
Ty Wellemeyer contributed to this report.