Sullivan mayoral race combined spending tops $250K, not counting PAC spending

BLOUNTVILLE — More than $257,000 has been spent in the Sullivan County mayoral race up to April 25, according to the latest financial disclosures due and filed April 27. Pre-primary financial disclosures include information from April 1 to April 25, which are available on the Sullivan County Election Commission's website. But they do not include a flurry of political action committee and candidate campaign ads flooding mailboxes in the week leading up to the May 5 election. By law, PACs can advertise for candidates but the candidates nor candidate committees are responsible for the content. More on that below. The Republican primary race is between two Kingsporters, and the winner this month will have no competition in the Aug. 6 general election. The combined total spending by both campaigns added together is $257,079.40. Angie Stanley is a former county commissioner and current vice chairwoman of the county school board who operates a hair salon in the Colonial Heights area of Kingsport, and Zane Vanover is a former county school teacher and current farmer and developer. Tuesday's results will determine who becomes mayor of Sullivan County Sept. 1 since no independent, Democrat or write-in candidates have filed to run. The election is for a four-year term, and the two are seeking to replace incumbent Richard Venable, a veteran Republican with four years, a break and then 12 years for a total of 16 non-consecutive years. VANOVER Zane Vanover has received $74,335 this period and spent $69,311.24. The bulk of his expenditures during this period have been for TV advertisements, direct mail advertising and a Sullivan County Benchmark Survey. To further break down the expenditures during that time frame, $26,690 of Vanover's recent spending went toward TV ads on WJHL. Disclosures show that his campaign spent a total of $6,099.46 on Spectrum TV ads as well. Johnson City-based Shell and Miller Advertising was paid $11,299.45 for direct mail campaign literature, breaking down to $9,499.25, and TV ad production costs, $1,800. His campaign paid Orion Digital Media $10,000 for a streaming video campaign, as well as $15,000 to Hunt Research LLC. CONTRIBUTIONS Vanover received financial contributions this period from: Charles Payne, $1,000; Bristol, Tennessee real estate development group Ardent Development Group, $1,000; Former state Rep., Sen., Lt Gov. and auctioneer Ron Ramsey, $1,500; Real estate agent with Ron Ramsey and Associates Sindy Ramsey, Ron Ramsey's wife, $1,500; and Former Kingsport mayor Pat Shull, two donations totaling $235. STANLEY Angie Stanley received $1,750 this period and spent $69,164.60. Similarly, most of her campaign expenditures related to commercials. Her campaign made three payments this period to Axiom Media for commercials, totaling $67,986. The disclosures noted Stanley's campaign received in-kind contributions from U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-1st, and her husband and Sullivan County Commission GOP candidate Robert Harshbarger Jr. These contributions were valued at $2,384.38 and listed for Stanley's campaign signs. The owner of Emersyn Park Apartments also made an in-kind contribution for campaign signs and banners, valued at $980 this period. Chad Mitchell of Lakeview Marina, made an in-kind contribution valued at $150 for a Stanley campaign meet-and-greet. CONTRIBUTIONS Stanley received financial contributions this period from: American Mortuary Coolers owner Tillman Ward; $700; Bruce Taylor, $200; Robert Moyer, two donations totaling $200; Debbie Waggoner, $500; and Ilda Perna, $100. MAILERS However, these campaign expenditures do not include any of the flyers that came out after the pre-primary reporting period, and no PAC-generated flyers expenditure information is available yet. At least three mailers have hit mailboxes since then, in addition to ones that have gone out and been chronicled in past articles. The three are: • "Grounded growth for Sullivan County," a flyer paid for by the Zane Vanover for Mayor, P.O. Box 180, Blountville. It says Vanover will: "Keep what works," i.e. education, support first responders with better pay and resources and keep officers in all schools; as well as "fix what's broken" to "open the doors" and books and stay ahead on maintenance, and establish a mental health court; and "build what's next" with long term plans to prevent tax hikes, freeze property tax hikes for seniors, support passenger rail to and through Bristol and bring county online services up to date. • Another flyer says Vanover's campaign is "propped up by big bucks from Ballad Health executives." It comes from the Tennessee Stand PAC, 4546 Chapman Highway, No. 3085, Knoxville. That PAC is under investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation over questions about it spending money before filing as a PAC and possibly misrepresenting itself as a PAC of Tennessee Stands, a separate group that filed a Registry of Election Finance complaint that prompted the probe at the request of Sullivan County Attorney General Barry Staubus. It repeats past mailers pointing out a $1,500 donation and $1,035 donation from two Ballad Health executives, as previously reported. • A third flyer from the Defend US PAC, 6688 Nolensville Road, Suite 108, Private Mail Box 1004, Brentwood, TN, says Vanover "voted to stop a property tax increase and added, "That's real leadership and real savings for you." On the flip side, with a headline of "Has politics left a sour taste in your mouth," showing a woman holding a lemon with a twisted face. Aside from Vanover's vote on the other side, it says Stanley voted for three property tax increases for almost $100 million in new debt. It also points out that no health are companies have donated to the Vanover campaign and that five or six Ballad employees who did are "longtime Sullivan County residents. Zane and Angie both have close family working at Ballad." It also says Vanover has voted in 15 GOP primaries but Stanley voted in the 2008 Democratic president primary. • A Facebook post by Defend US also said Vanover voted against a property tax increase in July of 2025.