Clarksville, TN — Clarksville has a new mayor, Montgomery County sent a Democrat to Nashville in a seat Republicans held, and voters across the country handed Democrats control of both the U.S. House and Senate in a night many national outlets are calling a blue wave.
With all 39 precincts and early and absentee ballots counted, 57,200 of Montgomery County’s 158,233 registered voters cast ballots on Tuesday, November 3rd, a turnout of 36.15 percent.
Riggins Wins a Tight Race for Mayor
Mark Riggins will be Clarksville’s next mayor, edging Wanda Smith by 1,010 votes in a three-way race to succeed Mayor Joe Pitts, who did not seek re-election.
Riggins finished with 16,092 votes, or 44.55 percent, to Smith’s 15,082 votes, or 41.75 percent. Brian Zacharias drew 4,819 votes, 13.34 percent, and 128 votes went to write-in candidates.
Riggins, who began his career with the City of Clarksville running a jackhammer in the Street Department more than 30 years ago, struck a unifying tone in a statement posted after the count. “To everyone who voted for someone else, I will be your Mayor too,” he said, promising to open the books, get traffic moving and finish the projects the city was promised.
Smith led in the early returns, and the race stayed close through the night before Riggins pulled ahead as Election Day precincts came in.
Allie Phillips Flips District 75, Ronnie Glynn Wins Big in District 67
The biggest local surprise came in Tennessee House District 75, where Democrat Allie Phillips unseated Republican Rep. Michael Lankford with 54.9 percent of the vote.
Lankford was appointed to the seat by the Montgomery County Commission in December 2025 after the death of Rep. Jeff Burkhart. That appointment vote ended in a tie between Lankford and Phillips, and County Mayor Wes Golden broke it in Lankford’s favor. Phillips, a working mother of two and union member, lost to Burkhart in 2024 with 45.2 percent. Tuesday she gained nearly ten points.
Phillips was one of at least three Democrats statewide to take a Republican-held state House seat, along with Bryan Goldberg in Knox County and Jesse Huseth in Shelby County. Unofficial returns showed Democrats also unseating Republican incumbents Mike Sparks and Tim Rudd in Rutherford County. It is the first time in eight years Democrats have gained ground in a statehouse controlled by a Republican supermajority.
In District 67, Democratic Rep. Ronnie Glynn turned a razor-thin 2024 win of 50.22 percent into a 62.83 percent landslide over Republican Chris Lanier. In District 68, Republican Rep. Aron Maberry held his seat over Democrat Garfield Scott, though his share fell from 67.81 percent in 2024 to 57.66 percent.
Phillips finished with 7,822 votes to Lankford’s 6,396. Glynn took 9,754 votes to Lanier’s 5,739, and Maberry collected 14,152 votes to Scott’s 10,318.
In the small slice of state Senate District 23 that reaches into Montgomery County, Republican Sen. Kerry Roberts carried 603 votes, 52.99 percent, to independent David Lee Marcum’s 528 votes.
Two Council Races Decided by a Handful of Votes
Half of the Clarksville City Council was on the ballot, and two of the six wards came down to razor-thin margins.
The closest race in the county was Ward 2, where Bill Cody unseated incumbent Eric Claunch by just seven votes, 1,074 to 1,067. In Ward 10, incumbent Stacey Streetman held off Chris Reneau by 136 votes, winning 51.07 percent to 48.47 percent.
Sabrena Gillespie won Ward 1 in a three-way race with 49.01 percent, ahead of Larry Allen at 34.42 percent and Adolph Dagan at 16.06 percent. Charles Uffelman took Ward 6 with 44.97 percent over Justin Swallows at 42.86 percent and Zachary Walker at 11.78 percent.
Christina Lee Hardesty won Ward 7 with 57.62 percent over John Dewey Robinson, and Billy Lange, running unopposed, takes the Ward 11 seat.
Blackburn Wins Governor’s Race, but Montgomery County Went for Green
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn will become Tennessee’s first woman governor after a far closer race than Republicans had planned for. Final unofficial returns from the Secretary of State gave Blackburn about 45.6 percent to 43 percent for Democrat Jerri Green, with independent David Hatley at 9.3 percent.
Blackburn declared victory shortly after 10:00pm, before any official call, and claimed a mandate to govern conservatively even though she won without a majority. Green conceded from her watch party in Chattanooga around 10:45pm. Blackburn carried nearly all of rural Tennessee, while Green won the four big urban counties of Shelby, Davidson, Knox and Hamilton.
Montgomery County broke from the state. Local voters chose Green with 27,759 votes, 48.53 percent, to Blackburn’s 24,018 votes, 41.99 percent. Hatley drew 4,111 votes here.
When Blackburn takes office in January, she will vacate her U.S. Senate seat and appoint her own interim replacement.
In the U.S. Senate race, Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty won a second term over Democrat Marquita Bradshaw in a rematch of 2020. Hagerty won roughly 54 percent to 44 percent, a far cry from the 62 to 35 percent rout he posted six years ago. Hagerty raised more than $13 million for the cycle, while Bradshaw raised about $38,000.
In Montgomery County, the Senate race was essentially a tie. Bradshaw edged Hagerty by just 62 votes, 27,373 to 27,311.
All Three Constitutional Amendments Pass
Tennessee voters easily approved all three amendments to the state constitution, and Montgomery County voters agreed on each one.
Amendment 1, expands the list of serious crimes for which a judge may deny bail, including terrorism, second-degree murder and aggravated rape, and requires judges to state their reasons on the record. Statewide it passed with more than two-thirds of the vote. Locally it passed 37,451 to 17,836, or 67.74 percent.
Amendment 2, bars the state from ever levying a state property tax. City and county property taxes are not affected. It passed locally 34,646 to 19,332, or 64.19 percent.
Amendment 3, known as Marsy’s Law, writes a package of crime victims’ rights into the constitution. It drew the strongest support of the three, passing locally 42,021 to 12,822, or 76.62 percent.
Van Epps Holds the 7th District as Democrats Take Congress
Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Van Epps won his first full term in the 7th Congressional District, defeating Nashville businessman Darden Copeland about 50.3 percent to 48.1 percent. Copeland conceded around 10:00pm. Van Epps won the seat in a December 2025 special election by nearly nine points. Running this year in a district the legislature redrew in May, he won by about two.
In Montgomery County’s share of the district, Van Epps took 23,393 votes, 51.74 percent, to Copeland’s 20,917 votes, 46.26 percent.
In the newly redrawn 5th Congressional District, which now takes in part of Montgomery County, local voters favored Democrat Chaz Molder, the mayor of Columbia, with 61.67 percent over Republican Charlie Hatcher. Districtwide, however, Hatcher won 51.6 percent to 46.7 percent, and the Associated Press called the race at 11:18pm.
A Blue Wave Washes Over Washington
Nationally, the night belonged to Democrats. NBC News and CBS News both project that Democrats will control the House and the Senate when the new Congress convenes on January 3rd, ending Republican control of Washington for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term.
The House majority could be the party’s largest in nearly two decades, with NBC News estimating Democrats will hold roughly 255 seats. In the Senate, Democrats needed a net gain of four seats and got there by winning in states that have long been Republican strongholds. Roy Cooper won in North Carolina, Annie Andrews in South Carolina, Josh Turek in Iowa, Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Adam Hamilton in Kansas, and Democrats also flipped a Senate seat in Texas. In Maine, five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins conceded to Democrat Troy Jackson shortly before 11:30pm Central time, ending a Senate career of nearly 30 years. In Georgia, Sen. Jon Ossoff held his seat.
Those numbers are projections, not final tallies. Votes are still being counted across the country, and in some states that count mail ballots arriving after Election Day, complete results may take up to a week. Final seat counts in both chambers could shift as close races are settled.
The results are widely seen as a rebuke of the President and congressional Republicans, and the wave reached even ruby-red Tennessee. Hagerty’s margin was cut by more than half from 2020, Blackburn won the governor’s office without a majority, and Democrats gained statehouse seats for the first time in eight years, including one right here in Clarksville.
Now Democrats Have to Deliver
A wave election is a loan, not a gift. Many of the voters who swept Democrats into power Tuesday are not loyal Democrats. They are independents, disaffected Republicans and working families who have watched grocery bills, rent and health care costs climb, and who voted for change.
Those voters will be watching closely to see whether Democrats show them there is a real difference between the two parties. They want to see results on the cost of living, a Congress that does its job as a check on the executive branch, and leaders who keep their promises instead of settling scores.
If Democrats spend the next two years delivering, Tuesday could mark a lasting shift. If they spend it on the same gridlock and posturing voters just rejected, the wave can recede as quickly as it came in, and 2028 is not all that far away.
