Grubb, Layton set for District 8 race
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Gina Grubb
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Don Layton
Only a single candidate each from the Republican and Democratic parties will be on the ballot to seek the District 8 seat on the Anderson County Commission in a special election included on the Nov. 3 general-election ballot.
Democrats from District 8 chose Gina Grubb as their candidate during a special caucus on Friday evening, Sept. 4.
Then on Tuesday evening, Sept. 4, District 8 Republicans nominated former Judge Don A. Layton as their candidate.
Phil Yager, the former independent commissioner for District 8 who lost his re-election bid in the Aug. 6 county general election, chose not to run, after initially picking up a petition and announcing that he would be a candidate.
The winning candidate will fill the seat that was won by Democrat Elizabeth “Liz” Henry in the Aug. 6 election.
She chose not to appear Sept. 1 to be sworn in along with other county candidates who won positions in the general election.
Deadline for filing was at noon Wednesday, Sept. 9.
Yager told The Courier News that he decided not to run because “in this partisan environment, it’s hard for an independent candidate to get elected.”
“I could have qualified with one of the parties, but I decided not to do that,” he said. “But I had a good 10-year run.”
Neither of the two party candidates was required to submit a qualifying petition with at least 25 signatures of voters registered to vote in District 8, county Elections Administrator Mark Stephens said.
Instead, each of the two policial parties merely had to deliver a letter to the Election Commission identifying the candidate it chose to represent the party on the Nov. 3 ballot.
In both of the party caucuses, only people currently registered to vote in District 8 were allowed to participate and choose a candidate.
Henry informed the county Election Commission by letter on Aug. 31 that for personal reasons, she would not take the oath of office on Sept. 1 with the rest of the 16 commissioners who were successful candidates in the Aug. 6 general election.
In that election, she had tied with Republican Jawrell Cook as the top vote-getters for the two seats in the district, which serves Emory Valley, Woodland and Hendrix Creek. Both received 749 votes.
In that election, Republican Layton came in third with 642 votes, followed by Yager (589 votes) and Democrat Ashley Craven (478). Craven had announced earlier, however, that she would not serve even if elected.
Both Layton and Yager had said on Aug. 31 that they were “inclined to run” after Henry announced that she would not be taking the seat.
Henry had tried to suspend her campaign in July, but was too late to withdraw from the Aug. 6 ballot.
She had suffered a serious injury while on an overseas trip in June, and was home recuperating. But by mid-July, she announced that she had changed her mind after having recovered from her injury more quickly than she’d expected.
The special election for the District 8 commissioner position will be only on ballots for voters residing in that district.
