KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Story courtesy of WVLT) – Knox County’s primary elections are set for Tuesday, May 5, and one of the major races on the ballot is for county sheriff.
There are four Republican candidates vying for the position: David Amburn, Mike Davis, Brent Gibson and Jimmy “J.J.” Jones. No Democrats have filed to run.
About the candidates
David Amburn
Amburn has served with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office for 34 years in various roles, including presently as chief of detectives, which involves overseeing the detective division and managing a multi-million dollar budget.
Mike Davis
Davis has more than 30 years in law enforcement, which includes serving in the United States Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. He was involved in investigating drug trafficking organizations in Tennessee, Arizona, New York, Michigan, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama during his time with the DEA, according to his campaign website.
Brent Gibson
Gibson joined the Knox County Sheriff’s Office in 1999 and has held several positions with the office, including sergeant, lieutenant, captain and assistant chief deputy. He also served as a member of KCSO’s SWAT team for nearly two decades before his retirement in 2024.
Jimmy “J.J.” Jones
Jones has over 40 years in law enforcement and is seeking his third term as sheriff after serving in position from 2007 to 2018. He most recently ran for sheriff in 2022 but lost to Tom Spangler in the Republican primary.
Vision
David Amburn
Amburn said he will work to build upon the “strong foundation” established by current-Sheriff Tom Spangler. For him, that includes faster response times, a special response team to address critical incidents and threats to schools and restoring proactive policing units.
Mike Davis
Davis has said his goal is to use his leadership, strong work ethic and dedication to his community to serve as sheriff with unquestioned integrity, trust, accountability and transparency.
Brent Gibson
Gibson said his vision is to “give citizens the leadership they deserve, rooted in accountability, trust, and conservative values.”
Jimmy “J.J.” Jones
Jones said he is running to “finish the job he started,” which includes safer schools, stronger neighborhoods, supported officers and restored community trust.
Priorities
David Amburn
Amburn’s main priority is to ensure the safety of families across Knox County, which includes bringing back the criminal interdiction unit and developing a quick response team staffed by SWAT members to respond to any Knox County schools. He also wants to invest in training to ensure deputies are equipped effectively.
Mike Davis
Davis’ priorities are outlined on his campaign website. They focus on sheriff’s office transparency, working on the area’s homelessness problem, working with ICE to enforce immigration and tackling drug trafficking.
Brent Gibson
Gibson’s priorities include departmental transparency, fiscal responsibility, school safety, public engagement and recruitment and retention. He said he plans to execute these by fostering trust, ensuring taxpayer dollars are used wisely, prioritizing children and staff safety in every Knox County school, having deputies build relationships in neighborhoods and attracting highly-qualified officers and creating an environment that keeps them in Knox County.
Jimmy “J.J.” Jones
Jones said his priorities include school safety, faster response times, officer retention, community access and transparency. He aims to accomplish this with two trained officers per school system, upgraded dispatch technology, competitive pay and better training, reestablishing precincts and having open-door leadership with public accountability and community trust.
The deadline to register to vote for the primary election is April 6.
Early voting gets underway on April 15 and runs through April 30 before Election Day on May 5.
