Knox County Commissioner Evelyn Gill ousted; Buuck wins law director primary

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Posted: Mar 3, 2020 / 10:35 PM EST

Updated: Mar 9, 2020 / 04:33 PM EDT

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – An incumbent Knox County commissioners was unseated and two appointees by Gov. Bill Lee got an endorsement by voters on Tuesday.

Republican Primary

In the Knox County Republican primary, Kyle Hixon, the incumbent appointed by Lee, won the Criminal Court Judge race over Wesley Stone.

This race was to fill the unexpired term of former Judge Bob McGee, who retired in December.

Eric Lutton won the Public Defender’s race beat Rhonda Lee.

This was another race to fill an unexpired term. Former defender Mark Stephens went into private practice in October after serving as public defender for nearly 30 years.

Lutton was appointed by the governor to fill the post until the election.

Both face no opposition from Democrats in the general election in August.

Kyle Ward, who owns a trash hauling business called Ward Waste Solutions and who is an Afghanistan veteran, won the District 4 County Commission race over Scott Broyles.

Ward will face Democrat Todd Frommeyer in August, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

In County Commission District 5, incumbent finance committee chair John Schoonmaker survived a challenge from Clayton Wood, an attorney and executive director of Thrive after school program.

Schoonmaker will face Democrat Kimberly Petersen in August.

Incumbent property assessor John R. Whitehead defeated Tina Marshall.

David Buuck, longtime deputy to Law Director Bud Armstrong, won the Law Director race, defeating former court clerk Cathy Quist-Shanks.

Armstrong could not seek reelection due to term limits.