BRADY FLANIGAN
Editor
Voter turnout for mayoral elections is a drunken dartboard in these United States. Some towns, like San Francisco, saw ~78% of voters turn out for their mayoral election in 2024. But a town like Arlington hardly broke 10%. So when you arrive in the town of Normandy, Tennessee, and see half the town attending the mayor’s retirement, it’s easy to feel like a lid popped ajar. Normandy is another one of Tennessee’s many walnut-sized railroad towns, but it feels somewhere far away from Middle Tennessee totally. It’s tucked deep in a hollow—not terribly far from Cascade Hollow actually, home of George Dickel Tennessee Whisky. That’s arguably one of the few things that finds export out of those dense little hills and spreads across the Middle Tennessee barrens. But being in Normandy feels like being somewhere else in the nation entirely. Out east, perhaps, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, or the San Juan mountains to the west. But on the whole, it feels like a place all itself. It’s a little pocket of life guarded from the world by the hills—hidden away like a sports coat pocket.
So arriving for Mayor Charles Whitaker’s early retirement celebration in a city of 108 and seeing perhaps 60 people crowded in the town hall around cake and barbecue, is intimidating to say the least. And when the only way you know in, is suddenly blocked by the CSX rolling through, can have a slightly frightening vibration evocative of the Wickerman or Midsommar. The lessons to learn from those protagonists, however, is to assimilate quickly. So an effort was given, and you’re reading the story.
Mayor Whitaker is retiring from the position and crossing over Normandy’s hill for good to go live with his son in Huntsville. Filling his place will be city alderman Cody Sharrock—a relative newcomer to the politics of a town with a population smaller than its graduating class. He first earned his position as an alderman in 2024 after running unopposed for one of two open slots and winning with a wide margin of 37 votes. In most towns those numbers would necessitate a recount, but not in Normandy.
American politics in the ‘20s is gerontocratic. It’s the oldest it’s ever been, and on the whole, Normandy’s population is ~25% older than the average age in the state of Tennessee. But Cody is a young gent. He’s unequivocally under 60, very possibly under 50, and maybe, just maybe, under 40. That’s the kind of age bracket that when it happens in larger towns, as it is right now with 33 year old Zohran Mamdani in New York City, televisions begin to melt from overheating.
Mayor Whitaker’s retirement carried enough relevance that the event saw the attendance of Bedford County commissioners, the mayor of the neighboring town of Wartrace, and Bedford County Mayor Chad Graham—packing one of those classic “whereas” proclamations municipal mayors so frequently keep a drawer of like sticky notes. Not to forget what surely could’ve been half the town. Everybody with a title took a minute to speak about Mayor Whitaker.
“Me and this mayor, I guess we came into this office together in 2018. We both had hair, and this is what this kind of job will do to you sometimes. But he’s done a great job. It’s really been a learning experience between us,” Mayor Chad Graham said to the crowd.
Wartrace Mayor Brian Ross spoke.
“I’ve been the mayor for the last two-and-a-half years, and Charles was one of the first mayors to reach out to me and offer any support, help, guidance, and he’s been a good friend and a good mentor. He listens to me when I vent. He’s done a lot of good for this town, for Bedford County. We’re going to miss you, but I think you’re in good hands now, Normandy. But, job well done.”
After all the commendations—from the citizens of Normandy, the local officials, the Shelbyville-Bedford Partnership—came the obligatory cake-cutting photo. The cake was chocolate, thick sugar scent. Inside: a bright pink filling of unknown provenance. Strawberry, perhaps. Or just pink. Sweet, definitely. Nobody asked. Everybody ate.