MOUNT VERNON — Knox County Commissioner candidate Barry Lester defeated Democratic challenger Chuck Rogers on Tuesday night.
Lester secured 71.91% of the votes cast, according to final, unofficial results from the Knox County Board of Elections. He received 21,686 votes compared to 8,473 (28.09%) for Rogers.
Lester began campaigning for the open commissioner seat in Oct. 2023, securing the highly-contested GOP March 19 primary vote.
Lester will be replacing County Commissioner Teresa Bemiller’s seat.
“I’m happy, surprised, honored to represent Knox County,” Lester said in an interview with Knox Pages.
Lester noted the great voter turnout, adding “he’s for the people”—and will do his best for all the people in Knox County.
Lester said one of his priorities when becoming commissioner is to look into live-streaming commissioner meetings for transparency.
County commissioner candidate Drenda Keesee, who ran unopposed in the general election, won her race with 22,655 votes cast.