KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - The race for Knoxville’s next mayor is already heating up, and the election is still about a year away.

Several candidates have already filed petitions with the Knox County Election Commission, putting their hats in the ring to replace Mayor Indya Kincannon, who will not be allowed to run again after serving for two four-year terms.

Candidates have until May 20 at noon to return petitions, but months out from that deadline, six people — including some already experienced in area politics — have already made it clear that they intend to campaign for Knoxville’s top executive office.

The City of Knoxville will hold its primary election on Aug. 31, 2027, and, unless one candidate gets more than half the vote, voters will make a final decision during Nov. 2, 2027’s general election.

Beau Hawk

Former Knox County mayoral candidate Beau Hawk has declared he’ll be running for the city office, though his website still reflects his county-level campaign, as of Nov. 10, 2026.

Hawk earned the Democratic nomination for Knox County’s mayoral race over the summer, losing out to Republican Betsy Henderson by about 5% of the vote.

Beau ran on an affordability and infrastructure platform, and there’s no indication his priorities have changed since losing the county race in August. Hawk’s camp has prioritized affordable housing, strong public education and transportation infrastructure.

How those priorities will translate to a city campaign aren’t exactly clear, at least yet. Take his website’s infrastructure issue blurb for example; Hawk directly calls out county officials.

“Each year, traffic gets worse and county politicians do nothing to address it,” the website reads.

Hawk’s campaign filings indicate he’s selected a campaign treasurer, but the filings don’t say how much money Hawk has on-hand.

Despite the loss, Hawk, a union ironworker who has also taken a strong stance on the side of workers and East Tennessee’s middle class, made a strong showing against Henderson. Securing 47.5% of the vote, he delivered one of the most promising results for a Knox County Democrat in decades.

The city’s elections are nonpartisan, however Knoxville’s politics have long leaned more left than the county’s.

Richard R.C. Lawhorn

Richard Lawhorn is no stranger to the Knoxville mayoral race. He ran in 2023, ultimately losing out to Kincannon as she won her second term.

Despite filing for a spot in the race, Lawhorn has yet to make any priorities public. In 2023, though, Lawhorn focused on affordable housing, school safety and community outreach.

Campaign financial disclosures say Lawhorn has around $338 on-hand.

Lawhorn also made headlines in 2021 as his bar, Billiards and Brews, battled COVID-19 restrictions.

Amelia Parker

Amelia Parker currently sits in the at-large C seat of Knoxville’s city council, a position she’s held since 2019. She describes herself as a human rights advocate and longtime community organizer, touting a record on her campaign website of focusing on affordable housing, government transparency and expanding public services.

Her campaign priorities walk a similar line to her self-proclaimed record.

“Parker’s people-centered platform will focus on affordability, public safety and mental health services, government accountability and transparency and economic prosperity that reaches all neighborhoods,” the website reads.

While on city council, Parker has also served as a representative on the Knoxville Transportation Authority Board (2019 to 2021) and Audit Committee, a role she took in 2019 and vacated last year.

Most recently, Parker was in the news cycle for calling out Kincannon and Chief of Police Paul Noel over their handling of a texting scandal that saw the chief barred from police work for 30 days.

“Shame on Mayor Kincannon for failing to uphold the standards that Paul Noel was hired to set for the Knoxville Police Department,” Parker said upon the chief’s return to service in early September.

An independent investigation found Noel had exchanged inappropriate texts with a subordinate, something the city disclosed and claims to have handled. Kincannon and Noel have upheld that no illegal activity took place during the years-long exchange between the chief and Patrol Officer Jasmine Reed.

Parker’s campaign filings list a treasurer, but there’s nothing indicating how much money she has in the bank.

Lauren Rider

Lauren Rider served eight years on Knoxville’s city council. Prior to that, she worked in education as a teacher and librarian at Pellisippi State Community College, and according to her campaign website, she’ll be prioritizing “safe neighborhoods, economic opportunity, housing and shelter and greater public input in city decisions.”

A large focus of Rider’s early campaign is growth in Knoxville. The city and surrounding county has long placed near the top of lists outlining the fastest-growing communities in the U.S., and Rider has a history of passing land use reforms.

Rider’s campaign is being managed by Gage Schmid, who also managed Hawk’s 2026 Knox County mayoral run. She’s got the support of another name in Knoxville politics: Katherine Bike, the chair of the Knox County Board of Education, who is serving as her campaign treasurer.

Outside of naming her treasurer, Rider has yet to file any other campaign documents.

Andrew Roberto

Andrew Roberto is another city council veteran (and former vice mayor) vying for the office of Knoxville mayor. He spent eight years in a city council seat, and the crux of his campaign is affordability and transparency.

Affordable places to live, well-paying jobs and the ability to voice concerns to city leadership are highlighted on his campaign website. It’s no surprise transparency is a key pillar of the campaign, either.

Last year saw a relatively major controversy surround city government: the proposed sale of Chilhowee Park to the Emerald Youth Foundation, a faith-based group that intended to turn the space into a sports complex. In September of 2025, the city council turned course after outrage over the sale of public land without input from the public itself.

At the time, Roberto said “the process fell way short of what we need to do.”

Roberto has also recently become an outspoken advocate for driver safety after his daughter died in a 2024 crash.

Roberto’s campaign filings also do not list how much money he has on hand.

Jeff Talman

Jeff Talman is also in the running, and not for the first time. Talman ran in the 2023 race that saw Kincannon elected to her final term.

He announced his latest run in September, though the highlights of his campaign priorities haven’t been publicly announced via a campaign website or similar.

In 2023, Talman pointed to his decades-long membership to the Knoxville Volunteer Rotary Club as a highlight of his civic participation. Talman also made clear he wanted to avoid increasing property taxes, something the more conservative candidates for the county mayoral race also ran on.

Talman has also yet to disclose how much money he has on hand.