Williamson County’s Welch rolls out endorsement list for school board

Eric Welch, incumbent member of the Williamson County School Board, has rolled out more than two dozen endorsements from current and former school system administrators and Parent Teacher Organization leaders. 

Among those endorsing are Dr. Alicia Spencer Barker, Tim Stillings and Kevin Townsel, all members of the Franklin Special School District Board of Education; Mark Cleveland, Vice-Chair of the Williamson County Business PAC; and Jay Chawan, Board President of the Williamson County Schools Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center Advisory Board. Former WCS Superintendent Mike Looney also endorsed Welch, as did 14 former WCS board members.

In a statement, the former board members said, in part, “We believe in the high value of public schools. As members of the Williamson County School Board we had the distinct honor and privilege to serve our great community with Eric Welch during our individual tenures. . . He models the highest standards of personal integrity and performance, always.”

Welch, a Republican, who was first elected to the District 10 position in 2010, fended off a challenge to his 39-vote  May 3 primary win from first-time GOP candidate Ali Adair. The Tennessee Republican Party voted to uphold certification of the election despite Adair’s allegations Democrats crossed over to the Republican primary to vote for Welch. 

He will face independent candidate William Holladay in the August 4 general election for school board and county commission. 

Williamson County is one of several counties in which candidates are running partisan races for the first time, since the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill during a Fall 2021 special session allowing partisan school board elections.