← Back to Fayette County, Tennessee: Election on 2026-05-05
Contest for County Mayor
County
Fayette County
primary - Partisan - County Mayor
About this office
The Fayette County Mayor is the county's chief executive and administrative officer. Duties include preparing the annual budget for the County Commission, overseeing daily operations of county departments (roads, finance, planning, emergency management, etc.), and representing Fayette County in intergovernmental dealings. The Mayor chairs the County Commission but does not vote except to break ties. Fayette's mayor serves a county of roughly 40,000 residents across 14 commission districts.
Term length: 4 years.
This role calls for
- Executive management of a small-county government (roads, finance, planning, emergency management) with a modest central staff.
- Ability to prepare and defend an annual budget before a 14-member County Commission.
- Intergovernmental capacity: coordinating with Somerville, Rossville, and other municipalities, the state, and federal agencies.
- Working familiarity with Tennessee county-government law, including open-meetings and procurement rules.
- Public-facing communication skills for a rural constituency of roughly 40,000 residents.
Derived from the office's statutory duties and operational reality. Candidate summaries below map each candidate's documented experience to these requirements.
Campaigns
Republican Primary
1 candidate
Rhea "Skip" Taylor
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Incumbent Fayette County Mayor since 2002; prior to that served eight years on the Fayette County Commission. Lifelong county native raised on his family's farm; B.S. in Agriculture from UT Martin. As mayor cites budgets that require no new property taxes, the establishment of a county-wide fire department, and construction of schools and Baptist-Fayette Hospital as accomplishments. Has filed 2024, 2025, and 2026 Tennessee Ethics Commission Statement of Interest forms in the County Mayor capacity. In 2024 was subject of local controversy over the temporary closure of the Bernard Community Center in Mason; the commission subsequently tightened facility-scheduling rules.