▶ Key Takeaways
- Local elections can change control of school boards and county commissions even when statewide results strongly favor one party.
- The article highlights several Tennessee counties where Democrats gained local seats in the 2026 primary elections.
- A single closely contested school-board race can affect the balance of an entire governing body.
- Local political organizations began candidate recruitment, training, and voter outreach months before Election Day.
- Campaign training materials emphasize voter contact, volunteer coordination, messaging, and follow-up.
- Local candidates focus their campaigns on issues such as infrastructure, growth, housing, healthcare, and government accountability.
- Volunteer networks and community events can create ongoing relationships with voters and campaign supporters.
- Statewide political trends do not automatically determine the outcome of local elections.
Your state votes overwhelmingly Republican.
Republicans hold statewide offices.
Election maps show a sea of red.
Then an election most people barely noticed changes who controls your school board.
Or your county commission.
Or your judges or DA.
And suddenly, radical pro socialists with very different worldviews and priorities have the votes to make decisions affecting your family, your property, your schools and your tax dollars.
And that’s what happened in 2025 and 2026 in Red States including Florida, North Carolina, Kansas and more. They saw the radical pro socialists win local elections… almost in secret.
Take the warning coming out of Tennessee.
In 2024, Donald Trump received 1,966,865 Tennessee votes—64.19%. Kamala Harris received 1,056,265—34.47%.
Trump won by 910,600 votes, nearly 30 percentage points.
Tennessee is a Safe Street, right? The radical left could never win a race… or could it?
In the August 2026 primary, Democrats gained schoolboard and county-commission seats across the state. In some places, they gained governing majorities.
How does that happen?
The research points to something I have repeatedly discussed in the media: organizing, training, voter contact, and follow-up changes who wins elections that receive little public attention.
My concern is that this creates an opening for the broader socialist movement I have warned about—expanding government power from the local level upward.
These results demolish one dangerous assumption:
Living in a red state does not guarantee that your local government and even state government will remain conservative… or it’s the start of hostile offensive takeover.
This is exactly what I saw happen in California before it became solid Democrat… and other states.
Here are seven developments every American should understand.
1. Local power changed hands while Tennessee remained overwhelmingly Republican.
Consider what happened in the August 6 2026 primary elections in different Tennessee counties:
- Knox County: Democrats gained a 5–4 school-board majority – they control the school board and took it from the Republicans.
- Montgomery County: Democrats secured 11 of 21 county-commission seats.
- Hamilton County: Democrats flipped two commission seats and one school-board seat.
- Rutherford County: Democratic gains ended the Republican commission supermajority.
- Sumner County: A Democrat won a commission seat after roughly 20 years without Democratic representation.
- Williamson County: Democrats flipped a commission seat and a school-board seat.
- Wilson County: Democrats won two commission seats on a previously all-Republican commission.
These radical candidates acquired governing power.
2. ne district can change an entire school board.
In Knox County’s District 9, Democrat Brandy Jenkins defeated Republican Bill Sofield:
4,420 votes to 4,086.
A margin of 334 votes helped determine control of a nine-member school board.
Jenkins’s victory produced the new 5–4 majority.
That illustrates why a statewide presidential landslide can create a false sense of security.
A school-board candidate does not have to win all of Tennessee.
The candidate has to win one district.
And the voters in that district—not the statewide presidential totals—decide who gets the seat.
3. Key to How They Did it: The organizing began months before Election Day.
Wilson County Tennessee Democrats advertised a two-day Candidate Training Camp for November 1–2, 2025.
That was approximately nine months before the August election.
The invitation welcomed prospective candidates, declared candidates, and people who wanted to help local campaigns. It promised practical training and required registration.
Two days before that camp, the party scheduled a gathering specifically for residents of eight named county-commission districts, explicitly connecting the event to winning seats in 2026.
Those announcements reveal preparation.
Recruitment. Local relationships. Training.
They focused on voter ID, going door to door, advertising strategies or texting. Or phoning. Or coffees and neighbor to neighbor relationship campaigning.
The work was underway long before the election became news.
4. Their public training materials read like a direct response political marketing campaign operation.
The Anderson County Tennessee Democratic Party’s candidate-resource page offers:
● A seven-page sample field plan.
● Canvassing and phone-bank instruction.
● A 12-page get-out-the-vote training guide.
● A 22-page guide for the campaign’s final four days.
● A spreadsheet for tracking volunteer shifts.
● Training on building voter-contact lists.
● VoteBuilder instruction for managing lists and recording conversations.
It also links to guidance on campaign emails, digital communications, and direct mail.
If you have followed my discussion of direct response political marketing, you will recognize the principles:
- Know whom you are communicating with.
- Make the message relevant.
- Follow up.
- Ask for a specific action.
- Track the response.
In an election, the final response is a ballot.
What did Republicans do? Nothing… except had fundraisers and meetings.
5. Volunteers are being organized into specific jobs.
Montgomery County Tennessee Democrats did aggressive outreach.
It defined roles: volunteer captain, canvasser, phone-bank worker, texting, postcard writer, event worker, and digital and social media volunteer.
That structure gives interested people a place to begin.
The election result was substantial: Democrats increased their commission
representation from seven seats to eleven. Their four gains came from two
Republican-held seats and two independent-held seats.
Republicans also gained two seats from independents. Nevertheless,
Democrats emerged with the majority.
Commissioner Rashidah Leverett described the significance in seven words:
“They have to come to us now.”
That is what winning local elections changes: who has the votes when decisions are made.
6. The message begins with a local problem.
Look at Washington County Tennessee Democrats’ candidate key issues.
They emphasize clean water, rural land, responsible growth, transparency, infrastructure, and government accountability.
Those are concerns people encounter close to home.
They can motivate someone who pays little attention to national party arguments.
The radical pro socialist belief in Big Government, income redistribution, radical transgender ideology, socialism over freedom is not mentioned – only known to their inner circles.
That is another familiar marketing principle: a message becomes more compelling when the prospect can see its relevance to daily life.
A few of the key issues the radicals are using: Data centers, AI, healthcare and housing costs.
7. A rally can be the beginning of an ongoing relationship.
The No Kings march in Tennessee (and across America) was a great voter registration and recruitment program for volunteers, family and donations.
Tennessee had over 70,000…
Indivisible is a national well-funded radical organization that provides extensive training and a local focus. Its No King rallies generated a small local army of volunteers for registering voters, and conducting conversations intended to increase engagement and get-out-the-vote programs.
It’s invisible to most. But it’s changing Tennessee and other Red States.
The election significance is straightforward: an event can create a continuing relationship with someone who otherwise might never enter an organization’s contact list.
They provide training, technology, staff, volunteer opportunities and communication tools.
A campaign can have money and still fail to generate participation. A trained volunteer network gives a campaign another way to reach people and maintain contact.
The danger to Republicans and conservatives is assuming a past election landslide will do the work of the next election.
Tennessee’s presidential result did not determine its local election results.
Its Republican identity did not prevent Democratic commission gains.
That is why this story matters far beyond Tennessee. It matters to every red… and purple… state.
Action:
- Share this article with someone who assumes local elections cannot change much because they live in a red state. Your state can stay red on television while power changes hands down the street.
- Use our Voter Guide for the upcoming elections by clicking HERE.
- Get my book The Great Deception: 10 Shocking Dangers and the Blueprint for Rescuing the American Dream. It gives a step-by-step action plan to turn things around and how you can have a powerful impact on the election.
Click HERE to order the book online.
You can order the book on Amazon HERE.
Or get the audiobook version HERE and on Kindle HERE.
You can also get an autographed edition online HERE or by phone at 615-814-6633 (M-F 10 am to 3 pm).
You can also send a check for $26.13 (including shipping) payable to Media Specialists and send it to this address:
Media Specialists
1313 4th Ave N
Nashville, TN 37208
FAQs:
Q: How can Democrats gain local power in a heavily Republican state?
A: Local elections attract fewer voters than presidential elections. A well-organized minority can win by recruiting candidates, targeting competitive districts, contacting voters repeatedly, and turning out supporters who might otherwise stay home.
Q: How strongly did Tennessee support Donald Trump in 2024?
A: Trump received 1,966,865 votes, or 64.19%. Kamala Harris received 1,056,265 votes, or 34.47%, giving Trump a statewide margin of 910,600 votes.
Q: Which Tennessee local governments experienced Democratic gains in 2026?
A: Democrats gained seats in Anderson, Hamilton, Knox, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sumner, Washington, Williamson, and Wilson counties. Their victories included county-commission and school-board seats.
Q: Did Democrats gain control of any Tennessee governing bodies?
A: Yes. Democrats gained an 11-seat majority on the 21-member Montgomery County Commission. They also gained a 5–4 majority on the Knox County School Board.
Q: What organizing methods did Tennessee Democrats use?
A: Publicly available materials show candidate recruitment, campaign training, voter targeting, VoteBuilder instruction, canvassing, phone banking, postcard programs, digital outreach, early-voting reminders, and organized get-out-the-vote efforts.
Q: How many people may have participated in Tennessee’s No Kings events?
A: An estimated 60,000 to 70,000 cumulative attendances may have occurred across the three major Tennessee mobilizations. Approximately 65,000 is a reasonable working estimate, but the number of unique participants is unknown because some people probably attended more than one event.
Q: Did No Kings organizers collect information from participants?
A: Yes the No Kings registration system collected the data of the attendees to grow their movement. These provided training, volunteer opportunities, donors and leaders.
Q: Does the evidence show that every Democratic candidate elected was a socialist?
A: No. The election results establish that Democrats gained local power, but they do not prove that every winning candidate was a socialist. The broader concern is that local Democratic victories can help advance progressive policies and expand government authority over time.
Q: Why are school-board and county-commission elections so important?
A: These governing bodies make decisions involving schools, budgets, taxes, development, public services, appointments, and local regulations. A change of only one seat can transfer control of an entire board or commission. It also is a stepping stone for higher offices.
Q: What is the main lesson for voters in other red states?
A: A strong Republican advantage in presidential elections does not guarantee conservative control locally. Every voter should investigate local candidates, understand what offices control, and participate in school-board, county, municipal, primary, and special elections.
About Craig Huey:
Craig Huey is a Christian, political commentator, and marketing expert. He publishes The Huey Alert and hosts the Huey Alert Podcast with his wife Shelly. Together, they stand at the intersection of faith, politics, and culture, helping Christians understand the issues shaping America today.