Clarksville City Council to Appoint New Ward 2 Councilmember from Seven Candidates

Clarksville, TN – On Wednesday, February 11th, 2026, Clarksville City Council Members will vote to appoint a new councilman to Ward 2 following the resignation of Councilman Deanna McLaughlin. 

Seven candidates have stepped forward for consideration.

They include the following:

• Eric Claunch

• AC Lopez

• Jeff Loyd

• Deanna Shepard

• Ross St. Louis

• David Upchurch

• Jeremy Wright

What happens next?

The City Council will vote to appoint one of the candidates on Wednesday, February 11th, during a special called meeting beginning at 4:30pm.

Below are the special session voting procedures as the City Council will look to fill the vacant position.

1. The City Clerk will announce the names of each applicant

2. Each Council Member will vote for only one applicant by stating the name of the applicant they are voting for during a roll call voice vote.

3. If any applicant receives a majority or more of the entire membership of the City Council, that applicant shall be approved and appointed to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term of the vacant member.

4. If no applicant receives a majority vote or more of the entire membership of the City Council during the first vote, then a second round of voting shall commence following the same procedure set forth above.

5. At the conclusion of the second round of voting, any applicant who receives a majority or more of the entire membership of the City Council, that applicant shall be approved and appointed to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term of the vacant member.

6. If no applicant receives a majority vote or more of the entire membership of the city council during the second vote, then a third round of voting shall commence. During the third round of voting, the city council shall not consider and no member of the city council may vote for the applicant having the lowest vote total during the preceding vote. 

   1. If after the second round of voting, two (2) or more applicants are tied with the lowest vote totals from the preceding vote, then a separate run-off vote shall first be conducted, prior to the third round vote, between only the tied applicants with the lowest vote totals from the preceding second round vote, or between all applicants if all applicants received an equal number of votes. During this separate run-off vote, all city council members may vote, but only for one of the tied applicants, except for the mayor, or the mayor pro tem in the absence of the mayor, who shall not have a vote in the run-off vote.

      The applicant with the highest total number of votes in the run-off vote shall continue to the third round of voting for consideration by the city council. In case of a tie vote during the run-off vote, the mayor, or the mayor pro tem in the absence of the mayor, shall break the tie by selecting from among those tied which applicant shall continue to the third round of voting by the city council. 

   2. At the conclusion of the third round of voting, any applicant who receives a majority vote or more of the entire membership of the city council shall be approved and appointed to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term of the vacant member. 

7. Subsequent voting rounds, to include run-off votes, if necessary, shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions above until such time as an applicant shall have received a majority vote of the entire membership of the city council.

To view the full agenda for Wednesday’s special session, go to https://clarksvilletn.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3067/files.