farragutpress

Mayoral candidates to speak April 2

March 18, 2026 by Tammy Cheek

Voters have an opportunity to learn more about the candidates running for Knox County mayor when Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce presents its 2026 Speaker Series: Knox County Mayoral Candidate Luncheon.

The event will take place from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday, April 2, in Rothchild Catering & Conference Center, 8807 Kingston Pike, Knoxville. The program will begin at 11:45 a.m.

Republican candidates, Larsen Jay, Kim Frazier and Betsy Henderson and Democratic candidate Beau Hawk will answer questions on topics affecting the county.

“Generally, whenever there’s a major election for the role of county mayor, which impacts Knox County, impacts the Town of Farragut and every community in between, we think it’s important to encourage civic engagement and voter education ahead of those primary elections,” FWKCC president/CEO Julie Blaylock said. “We did a forum similar to this back in 2018, which was the first primary during which Glenn Jacobs ran for mayor.

“This election cycle, we’re very appreciative and thankful we were able to secure

participation of all of the declared county mayor candidates,” she said. “We’re also extremely grateful to have

the participation of Dr. William Lyons, professor emeritus of political science at the Baker School of Public Policy and Affairs at our University of Tennessee, Knoxville, campus.

“He’s considered an expert in Tennessee state and local government, American politics and voting behavior and elections,” Blaylock said. “Notably, he was the chief policy officer for the city of Knoxville for 16 years, so he has both academic and very practical experience when it comes to the workings of city and county governments.

“We’re confident that he will do a great job emceeing this forum, and he will ask the questions that voters want to know about,” she said. “We are taking questions from the membership and attendees, and we’ve gotten a few.

“We will also offer a brief audience Q & A at the end of the forum,” Blaylock added.

The series “technically sold out, but we were able to talk to Rothchild and make arrangements to increase capacity,” Blaylock said.

Members can purchase a ticket, which includes lunch, for $35 and non-members can purchase tickets for $45. Also, members can get a table of 10 for $ 325. Tickets are available at farragutchamber.com

Tennessee Strategies is the presenting sponsor. The mid-level event sponsor is

First Utility District and the three community sponsors are Lenoir City Utilities Board, State Rep. Jason Zachary and Slamdot.

“We’ll be making a donation from sponsor dollars to [Concord Adult Enrichment Services],” she said.