Davis Wins District 18 Race Marked By Allegations Of Antisemitism

By Benjamin Pounds, Tennessee Lookout

November 9, 2022

In the Knoxville House District 18 race to replace departing Rep. Eddie Mannis, Republican Elaine Davis defeated Democrat Greg Kaplan to keep the seat red.

Davis received 10,905 votes or 54.10%. Kaplan received 9,253 votes or 45.90%.

“I’m looking forward to serving the 18th District in Nashville,” Davis said. “We reached out to the voters, as many voters as possible,” she said regarding the key to her success. “I look forward to carrying that in Nashville.”

Kaplan did not return the Lookout’s calls.

“I believe in free speech, rigorous debate, and good public policy —none of which is promoted by this bill. The legislature needs to focus on real issues, and on solving real problems,” Kaplan said in a statement. “As they say, ‘every problem contains its own solution.’ That’s what I believe, and that’s why I’m running,” he stated. He has also worked for various non-profits.

Kaplan is a professor of Spanish and Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of Tennessee, and he has said he was spurred to run because of the Divisive Concepts Bill which he opposes.

Davis was appointed to Knox County Commission in 2006 but failed to win reelection — as a Democrat — although she did not win her bid for election later that year. She ran as a Republican unsuccessfully against Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, in 2020.

The Davis-Kaplan races was marred by allegations of antisemitism toward Kaplan, who threatened legal action after a mail piece was sent on behalf of Kaplan by the Tennessee Republican Party that altered Kaplan’s features to make his nose seem larger. Kaplan, who is Jewish, got support from the Knoxville Jewish Alliance, which weighed in on the mailer days before the election.

“The distortion of Jewish features in media and print has been used as negative propaganda throughout history,” said the KJA statement. “The use of caricatures in this manner is wildly dangerous and we call it out as antisemitism.”

Mannis joined the criticism of anti-Kaplan ads, particularly the one distorting Kaplan’s face, The News Sentinel paper in Knoxville reported. He condemned Davis’s supporters for using anti-semitism.

The Lookout asked Tennessee Republican Party Chair Scott Golden for comment on the mail piece but received no response.

(Holly McCall contributed to this story.)

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