{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nMark Dewayne Qualls is a candidate for Hickman County Mayor in the August 6, 2026 county general election, running as an independent [1][2]. He is one of four candidates on the mayoral ballot, alongside Republican nominee Chris D. Chilton and independents Robert Atkinson and Terri Christie [1]. Qualls previously ran for county mayor in 2018 and lost to incumbent Jim Bates [2]. His campaign platform is organized around five stated priorities: \"Preserving land and waters\"; \"Parks, recreation, and tourism\"; \"Infrastructure development\"; \"Sustainable tax revenue streams\"; and \"Transparency and accountability\" [3].\n\n## Career\nAccording to his campaign materials, Qualls describes himself as \"a dedicated public servant\" and a businessman with a leadership background, citing experience turning around companies for Battleground Enterprises, LLC, and a bachelor's degree in Management and Organizational Development [3][4].\n\n## Sources\n[1] [Candidates finalized for Hickman County's May 5 Primary ballot - Main Street Media of Tennessee](https://mainstreetmediatn.com/articles/hct-print/candidates-qualified-finalized-for-may-elections/) - accessed 2026-07-23\n[2] [2026 election field filling up in Hickman County - Main Street Media of Tennessee](https://mainstreetmediatn.com/articles/hct-print/qualls-v-bates-for-mayor-as-names-begin-to-drop-for-2026-election-qualifying/) - accessed 2026-07-23\n[3] [Mark Qualls for Hickman County Mayor - campaign site](https://markqualls.com/) - accessed 2026-07-23\n[4] [Mark Qualls for Hickman County (hcunified)](https://hcunified.com/) - accessed 2026-07-23","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_mayor","county":"Hickman","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"TN","title":"County Mayor"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"Mark","fullname":"Mark Qualls","lastname":"Qualls","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_mayor","contest_title":"County Mayor","county":"Hickman","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-08-06","office_county":null,"office_key":"county_mayor","office_title":null,"party":"I","pgr":"general","state":"TN"}],"county":null,"cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_mayor","contest_title":"County Mayor","county":"Hickman","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-08-06","office_county":null,"office_key":"county_mayor","office_title":null,"party":"I","pgr":"general","state":"TN"},"party":"I","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"county_mayor","office_title":"County Mayor","state":"TN","terms":[]}],"summary":"Independent candidate for Hickman County Mayor in 2026; local businessman who previously ran for mayor in 2018. Platform focuses on land, tourism, infrastructure and transparency.","terms":[],"token":"9CW00OwjLk"}