The County Seat

By Kleinheider Posted on August 6, 2008 at 11:34 am

A story in the Southern Standard today highlights the very interesting race for Sen. Steve Roller’s state Senate seat.

Roller, who was chosen by the Warren County Commission to serve the rest of Senator Jerry Cooper’s term, stands as one in a long line of Warren County residents who have held the 14th District seat.

However, Roller faces strong opposition in the primary from two candidates who have strong bases of their own outside Warren and from early voting tallies thing are not looking so good for the appointed incumbent:

Roller was appointed to the Senate by the Warren County Commission in December to take the place of state Sen. Jerry Cooper, who resigned after 23 years of service.

Prior to that time, Ernest Crouch had been state senator for the seven-county district from 1963 until Cooper’s election. The present district was formed out of the former 11th District in 1963.

Standing in Roller’s way in Thursday’s Democratic primary are Eric Stewart of Winchester and Jim Woodard of Tullahoma. One will advance to the November election to face the Republican nominee – James Threet, Mike Neiderhauser or Lynn Sebourn, all from Coffee County.

Early voting numbers appeared up slightly from normal across the state, taking a 25 percent jump from the last August election during a presidential election year in 2004.

In the 14th District, the home counties of the candidates make up most of the entire district’s votes. Generally, about half the electorate has voted early in recent years.

Not counting Saturday’s early vote ballots, Coffee County voted the most with 3,381 early voters, followed by Franklin County with 2,087. Warren County was third with 1,413.

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Tags: Eric Stewart, Jerry Cooper, Jim Woodard