Women set to lose council majority

Like it or not, a new majority will arrive at Knoxville City Council following November’s election. Five current council members are term-limited.

The picture sharpened on Tuesday (8/26/25) as the unofficial primary results were announced. Here’s your outcome:

District 1: (Current member is Tommy Smith) – 1,613 total votes in the primary

  • Moving on: Karyn Adams (914 votes) Becky Jones (331)
  • Eliminated: Lindsey Jaremiko (309) and Charles Van Morgan (59)

 

District 2: (Andrew Roberto) – 1,954 total votes in the primary

  • Moving on: Nathan Honeycutt (1,551) and Melody Watts (403)
  • Only two candidates ran from this district

 

District 3: (Seema Singh) – 1,803 total votes in primary

  • Moving on: Doug Lloyd (756) and Frank Ramey (571)
  • Eliminated: Ivan Harmon (292) and Nicholas Ciparro (184)

 

District 4: (Lauren Rider) – 2,849 total votes in primary

  • Moving on: Matthew DeBardelaben (1,589) and Jeff Talman (1,067)
  • Eliminated: Jane George (193), who had withdrawn from the race

 

District 6: (Gwen McKenzie) – 1,559 total votes in primary

  • Moving on: Denzel Grant (566) and Stan Johnson (488)
  • Eliminated: Lawrence “Man” Williams Jr. (281), Charles Frazier (130) and George “Cat Dad” Raudenbush (94).

 

Observations:

District 1: With 56.6% of the vote in a four-way race, it’s hard to see how Karyn Adams loses.

District 2: Nathan Honeycutt (80% of primary vote) is way ahead of Melody Watts (20%).

District 3: Doug Lloyd, who owns Lloyd Electric Services, outpaced Frank Ramey in the primary (41.9% to 31.67%). This one is a horse race with Lloyd running on the rail.

District 4: Matthew DeBardelaben vs. Jeff Talman is close as well. DeBardelaben is a bit liberal for a district that’s elected such folks as Nick Della Volpe, Rob Frost and Carlene Malone.

District 6: A toss-up. Denzel Grant, with 36% of the primary vote, faces off against Stan Johnson, with 31%. The other three candidates shared 505 votes.

For the first time in memory, the general election will be within districts rather than citywide. That makes name recognition and fund-raising less important than door-knocking and organization, thus giving a chance to those who ran in second place, especially in Districts 3, 4 and 6.

In 2017, these five districts elected three women and in 2019, the three at-large seats went to women, giving women a 6-3 majority on city council, an historic first. This 2025 election will probably produce just one woman (Adams) as a winner. She will join the three at-large women reverting the council to a 5-4 male majority.

Catching up with local leaders

Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton is the subject of a magazine article written by Mary Leidig in the Blue Ridge Country Magazine. Read it here. Dolly is quoted saying, “I wake up each day thinking about what I can do that I’ve not done yet, or about who I can help that I haven’t helped yet or about where I can make a difference that I’ve not been able to do yet.”

Andrew McGranaghan

George Wallace is not running for city council any more, but he’s tossing his prowess behind his friend, Andrew McGranaghan, a candidate for first vice president of East Tennessee Realtors. Voting is September 16-18, 2025. Apparently, in this organization nobody runs for president. Getting elected first VP puts one on a track toward president-elect and president. McGranaghan is chief development officer at Wallace Real Estate in Knoxville.

Maddie Gardner

Madison “Maddie” Gardner is the new banking center manager at First Horizon’s University Knoxville Banking Center, located on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, campus. Gardner has been a client of First Horizon since she was 14. After college, she worked as a business service center agent at First Horizon’s call center and as a relationship banker at the Hardin Valley Banking Center.

Julie Blaylock

Julie A. Blaylock IOM, president of the Farragut West Knox Chamber, has earned the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce Executives (TNCCE) designation during the annual conference this month in Pickwick, Tennessee. The designation reflects proven executive leadership, ongoing professional development, active engagement within the chamber industry and endorsements from peers and community leaders.

John Koelsch

John Koelsch has been hired by Johnson Architecture as a project manager with a focus on the firm’s healthcare projects. Koelsch earned a Bachelor of Architecture with a minor in business administration from the University of Tennessee. He is a registered architect in both Tennessee and South Carolina and certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).

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