Wilson County general election: Two new candidates win contested school board races

Two new Wilson County School Board candidates were elected in contested races while the county's incumbent assessor of property kept his seat after the county's Aug. 1 general election.

Two Wilson County School Board incumbents and a new Lebanon Special School District board member were also elected in uncontested races that were settled in the March primary.

All of the successful candidates qualified as Republicans. Results are unofficial.

There were 8,306 residents who voted early and 472 who voted by absentee ballot, according to the Wilson County Election Commission. Wilson County has 104,438 registered voters, and 16,437, or a little more than 15.7%, turned out for this election.

Wilson County School Board Zone 1

Greg Hohman defeated incumbent Carrie Pfeiffer in Thursday's closest race.

Hohman won by a vote of 1,972 to 1,618, according to the Wilson County Election Commission's unofficial results.

Hohman believes lessons on critical race theory, gender confusion and pedophilia, all incorporated into California's curriculum, are making their way to Tennessee and Wilson County.

“I am willing to stop the direction we are heading before it mirrors California and their failing school systems,” Hohman said during his campaign.

Pfeiffer ran as an Independent who said rapid growth, a safe school environment and rigorous academics were leading issues in her campaign.

Wilson County School Board Zone 5

Republican Donnie Self won against Democrat challenger Brittany Ash with Republican Aaron Fulcher also in the race as a write-in candidate who campaigned despite not being listed on the ballot.

Self won the seat by a vote of 1,142-399. Fulcher had 138 write-in votes.

Incumbent Larry Tomlinson did not seek reelection.

Self, 50, is a former law enforcement officer who became a teacher at Watertown High School from 2015-2019. He emphasized school safety, teacher compensation and retention along with overall district-wide school growth in his campaign.

Ash, 34, a director of children's services at a foster care agency for children with special needs, talked about high profile issues like vouchers, arming teachings, culture wars and book bans along with less publicized challenges like bus driver shortages, teacher turnover, cell phones in schools and space capacity.

Fulcher, 21, ran as a "conservative" Republican who believes he offers a "different way to view things," as a student at Cumberland University and 2021 graduate of Lebanon High School.

Assessor of Property

Incumbent Stephen Goodall, who has held the seat since 2016, defeated Democrat Derrick Hammond, a senior tax manager with about 30 years of experience in property assessment with multiple certifications.

Goodall won by a vote of 11,916-4,122.

Uncontested after primary wins

Two other Wilson County School Board seats and a Lebanon Special School District seat were each decided in the March primary and were uncontested in the general election.

• Melissa Walker Lynn in Zone 3 and Jamie Farough in Zone 7 both won as incumbents in Republican-only races in March and were uncontested for their Wilson County School Board seats.
• Heather Sadler Gallaher narrowly defeated Dusty Jones by four votes — 1,771-1,767 — in March to win the Lebanon Special School District seat in that Republican primary. She was uncontested in the general election.

Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com or 615-726-5939 and on X, formerly known as Twitter @ AndyHumbles.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Wilson County general election: Two new candidates win contested school board races