With longtime Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson choosing not to seek reelection, voters will choose someone to succeed him for the first time in decades. The Republican nomination will be decided in a primary on May 5th, which will effectively be tantamount to winning the general election. In fact, at this point, no Democrat has even announced a campaign.
The campaign fundraising disclosure reports for the candidates seeking to succeed Anderson were filed last week.
Leading in the fundraising totals for mayor was former County Commissioner Todd Kaestner. Kaestner, recently dropped out of the Mayor’s race on the same date the disclosure reports were due. He reported the largest with a reported total of $281,650.00. Kaestner’s campaign reported raising $30,650.00 and loaning his campaign $251,000.
Kaestner ended his campaign with $236,650.00 in the bank. The campaign’s only expenditures were $45,000 toMichael Lotfi’s Red Ivory Strategies LLC of Ashland City for political consulting.
Puckett’s Grocery owner and businessman Andy Marshall also reported an impressive fundraising total of $128,921.94, plus loaning his campaign $100,500.00. His campaign has $202,480.74 remaining to spend. Marshall spent $27,697.46 since jumping into the race. His largest expenditure was $10,350 paid to campaign workerMarquis Gaudet of Franklin.
Williamson County Commissioner Mary Smith reported raising $79,483.47 and currently has $53,122.05 left to spend. She spent $26,361.42. Her largest expenditures were $6,345,68 to One Source Inc. of Franklin for promotional materials. Unlike Marshall, Smith has not made any personal loans to her campaign.
Former GOP State Representative Brandon Ogles, who announced his candidacy at the end of last year, did not file a campaign finance report.
Ogles has yet to pick up a petition to run for Mayor and is reportedly considering whether to run.
Steve Gill is editor and publisher of TriStar Daily.
