Ballot Project
Log in / Sign up

← Back to Fayette County, Tennessee: Election on 2026-05-05

Contest for County Commissioner District 2 Position 1

None None
primary - Partisan - County Commissioner District 2 Position 1

About this office

Fayette County Commissioners are members of the county's legislative body. Fayette has 14 single-member districts; some districts elect two commissioners at-large within the district (the second position is noted). The County Commission passes resolutions and ordinances, approves the annual county budget, sets the property-tax rate, and enacts countywide policy. Each commissioner represents roughly 2,000 residents — a much smaller constituency than in urban counties, where retail relationship-based politics has more weight. Members must complete at least seven hours of continuing education annually through the UT County Technical Assistance Service.

Term length: 4 years.

This role calls for

  • Policy judgment on countywide matters — budget, taxes, land use, services — within Tennessee county-government law.
  • Budget literacy: commissioners set the property-tax rate and approve the county budget.
  • Legislative process: drafting, amending, and voting on resolutions and ordinances.
  • Constituent relations in a district of roughly 2,000 residents — retail, relationship-based politics.
  • Willingness to complete the state-required seven hours of annual continuing education through UT CTAS.

Derived from the office's statutory duties and operational reality. Candidate summaries below map each candidate's documented experience to these requirements.

Campaigns

Democratic Primary 1 candidate
Marandy Wilkerson

Marandy Wilkerson
👍 👎 🤡 😡 🤷
Black Fayette County resident and one of five individual plaintiffs in a 2025 Voting Rights Act lawsuit — brought alongside the NAACP's Fayette-Somerville Branch by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Donati Law — that challenged the county commission's 2021 redistricting map. The plaintiffs dismissed the suit in July 2025 after the commission adopted a new map creating three majority-Black single-member districts. Documented public-engagement track record on Fayette electoral fairness. Has filed a 2026 Tennessee Ethics Commission Statement of Interest as a County Commission candidate. Bio does not indicate career, education, or county-budget experience.
Republican Primary 1 candidate
Dave Rhea

Dave Rhea
👍 👎 🤡 😡 🤷
No substantive public biographical information was located. The Rhea surname appears multiple times on the 2026 Fayette ballot — including incumbent Mayor Rhea 'Skip' Taylor and District 1 Commissioner Matt Rhea — indicating a locally prominent family, but no source confirms Dave Rhea's biographical details or relationship to them. Bio does not indicate prior public service, county-budget experience, or documented community leadership. He has not filed a Tennessee Ethics Commission Statement of Interest.