Meet the Sullivan County Mayoral Candidates: Key Insights Before...

BRISTOL, Tenn. (WJHL) — As the race for Sullivan County mayor heats up, Republican candidates Angie Stanley and Zane Vanover took center stage at a forum on Wednesday evening. This pivotal event came just a week before early voting is set to commence.

Given that the race lacks independent candidates, the upcoming election on May 5 will almost certainly see either Stanley or Vanover secure the GOP nomination. This effectively determines the leadership of Northeast Tennessee’s largest county.

Hosted by the Bristol Chamber of Commerce at the Bristol Regional Medical Center, the forum provided a platform for both candidates to present their visions and credentials to the public.

Stanley, who has served as both a county commissioner and the vice chair of the school board, emphasized her commitment to fostering competition in the healthcare sector. She shared this priority with News Channel 11, underscoring her focus on improving healthcare options for the community.

“I will fight for quality health care here, for competition,” Stanley said.

The small business owner also spoke of the other issues that are central to her campaign.

“Transparency is a big issue with me. The taxpayers deserve to know where their tax dollars are going,” Stanley said. “I will work with our county commission, our state officials, to put a cap on our senior citizens’ property taxes. A lot of our senior citizens right now are struggling to pay their property taxes.”

Stanley said the county doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.

“And that’s one of the things that I will work with our next commission if elected,” she said.

Stanley ran for mayor four years ago and narrowly lost to incumbent Richard Venable, who is not seeking another term. Stanley believes she has a better chance this go-around.

“I think I have the name recognition now. I’ve knocked on a lot of doors, heard a lot of people’s concerns,” Stanley said. “It’s tough to beat an incumbent, but, you know, we don’t have an incumbent now. So I think we both have equal grounds.”

Zane Vanover

Vanover is a farmer and the current chairman pro tem of the county commission.

“I’ve done everything,” Vanover said. “I’ve been a teacher, I’ve been a coach, I’ve been a farmer, I’ve developed some property. I’ve been on the county commission for four years, made a lot of decisions. Good, good decisions, I think, for this county and hope to make more in the future.”

Vanover said he loves to serve and pointed to his four years on the county commission.

“I get a lot of gratification from serving people,” he said. “So hopefully I can do it more on a larger scale and serve more people and make a bigger impact in a positive way for this county.”

When asked what sets him apart as a candidate, Vanover cited his various experiences.

“Like being a farmer, being a teacher,” he said. “Different walks of life that other people haven’t always experienced. I know what it’s like to be in a classroom. I know what it takes, I know good education from bad education. I know what hard work is on the farm. I know how hard it is to pay your taxes. Sometimes when you own property, you pay a lot of property tax. So I want to see that tax money go into the right purposes.”

Vanover said some of the things he would address as mayor include the county’s future growth, transparency, communication, and fiscal responsibility.

Early voting runs from April 15–30.

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Meet the Sullivan County Mayoral Candidates: Key Insights Before You Cast Your Vote

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