Three Republican candidates for Rhea County General Sessions Court — incumbent Shannon Garrison, Jace Cochran and David Shinn — met recently for a public debate moderated by Melody Shekari, president of the Chattanooga Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division. The candidates answered questions about their qualifications and the drug problem in the county, Chattanoogan.com reports. Cochran, who currently serve as Graysville municipal judge, and Assistant District Attorney General David Shinn both said they would like to create a drug court. Judge Garrison said he has sent people to rehab but until the person decides they want to stop “resources will be wasted on them.”

Bradley County attorney Rex Wagner has announced his candidacy for the Tennessee House of Representatives in District 24. He is running in the Republican primary. A 1993 graduate of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, Wagner spent more than 25 years as a sole practitioner in Bradley County. He is also a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Cleveland State Community College, according to an announcement today.

JustCity and the Justice & Safety Alliance are co-hosting a Shelby County DA Candidate Forum on Thursday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. CDT. The event will take place at the Christ Missionary Baptist Church, 480 S. Parkway East, Memphis 38106. Organizers say they are hosting the forum to give the community one last opportunity to hear from district attorney candidates before election day on May 3. Each declared candidate from both political parties has been invited to the event. Those who would like to attend are asked to register in advance.

Former public defender and congressional candidate Keeda Haynes won’t be running for the state Senate after all, the Nashville Post reports. Haynes withdrew from the open District 19 race yesterday and did not respond to a request for comment. She had joined the race earlier this month when Sen. Brenda Gilmore, D-Nashville, announced her retirement and tapped Haynes as her chosen successor. That move triggered an extension in the filing deadline due to the state’s anti-skullduggery law. Since then, two more Democrats have entered the race: Charlane Oliver and Jerry Maynard.

Two East Tennessee police chiefs and a police lieutenant are facing complaints they violated the federal Hatch Act in endorsing 8th Judicial District Criminal Court judicial candidate Graham Wilson, Tennessee Lookout reports. The complaints allege that Tazewell Police Department Chief Jeremy Myers and New Tazewell Police Department Chief Ben Evans used departmental letterhead in issuing their endorsements while Myers, Evans and New Tazewell Lt. Gary Ruszhowski posed with Wilson in their uniforms for photos used on Wilson’s campaign website. The complaints were filed last week with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which is tasked with enforcing the Hatch Act. Penalties for violating the act can include removal from office, loss of federal funds and fines.

Columbia attorney Sammy Patterson has announced his campaign to run as an independent for 22nd Judicial District Circuit Court Part IV judge, The Daily Herald reports. Patterson graduated from Nashville School of Law in 2000 and opened a law practice in Columbia that same year. He says his experience includes serving more than 10,000 clients and handling more than 100 jury trials involving criminal, juvenile, family law, civil litigation, probate and appeals. He will face Assistant District Attorney Caleb Bayless, who is running as a Republican, and Lawrenceburg lawyer Stacie Odeneal, who is running as an independent. The seat, which serves Maury, Giles, Lawrence and Wayne counties, is open due to the retirement of Judge Stella Hargrove.

Nashville non-profit The Equity Alliance (TEA) released voter guides this week for the May 3 primaries in Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga, the Daily Memphian reports. The 54-page Shelby County guide includes information on voter-registration requirements, including the ID requirement for absentee voting. All early-voting sites are listed, as are resources for voters who believe their rights have been violated. Information about each office is also included, as well as profiles on all candidates who responded to TEA’s survey questions. Contact information for each candidate is provided and TEA encourages readers to reach out to candidates directly. The Equity Alliance is a women-led nonprofit organization designed to build political and economic power in Black communities statewide. Find all three voter guides on TEA’s website.  

Connie Reguli, a Brentwood attorney and candidate for Williamson County Juvenile Court judge, was yesterday convicted on charges stemming from her involvement in a 2018 case, the Williamson Home Page reports. A Williamson County jury concluded that, in 2018, Reguli transported a woman and the woman’s daughter to her home after learning of a court order to place the daughter in DCS custody and of a TBI endangered child alert that had been issued for the daughter. Reguli’s attorney argued she was trying to best advise the woman, who was her client, and protect the woman’s daughter. Reguli was convicted of facilitating custodial interference and two counts of accessory after the fact. She will be sentenced on June 24.

Two new candidates have emerged in state Senate District 19, the Nashville Post reports. Following Sen. Brenda Gilmore’s last-minute decision to retire and endorse attorney Keeda Haynes, the state’s anti-skulduggery law triggered an extended qualifying period, now set for April 28. This week, former Metro Councilmember Jerry Maynard and The Equity Alliance co-founder Charlane Oliver have picked up petitions seeking to qualify for the Democratic primary. Since leaving the council, Maynard has remained involved in local politics, including through his government relations company The Maynard Group. He also served as a fundraising liaison for Gilmore during her 2018 run for Senate. Oliver helped launch The Equity Alliance in 2016 to advocate for voting rights and other issues in local and statewide campaigns.

Two are running for Greene County Circuit Court Clerk in the Republican Primary on May 3, the Greeneville Sun reports. Whoever wins the primary will run unopposed in the Aug. 4 general election. Incumbent Clerk Chris Shepard and Chief Deputy Circuit Court Clerk Whitney Shelton Collins recently responded to questions from the paper about their campaigns. Read why they are running for office, how they would improve the office and what can be done to make the clerk’s office more accessible to the public.