{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nChad Fletcher is the Republican nominee for Bedford County Mayor in the August 6, 2026 county general election, running to succeed retiring two-term Republican mayor Chad Graham [3]. Fletcher won the May 5, 2026 Republican primary with 53.0% of the vote in a three-way race, ahead of Ally Puckett (32.48%) and James Sloan (12.40%) [3][2]. He describes himself as a \"citizen leader, not a career politician,\" and organizes his platform around three pillars: \"Smart Growth\" (infrastructure, land-use planning and economic development), \"Safer Communities\" (support for first responders and schools, limited government), and \"Sensible Spending\" (transparent budgets and conservative tax policy) [1].\n\n## Background and education\nFletcher is a lifelong resident of Bedford County [1]. He holds three degrees from Middle Tennessee State University and is completing a doctorate at Rockhurst University (expected May 2026) [1].\n\n## Career\nFletcher has an approximately 30-year career in education, having served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and district supervisor [1]. He currently serves as Director of School Safety for Bedford County Schools, coordinating emergency-response planning and safety protocols with first responders and School Resource Officers, and has spent nearly a decade managing multi-million-dollar federal school budgets [1].\n\n## Sources\n[1] [Vote for Chad Fletcher](https://votechadfletcher.com/) - accessed 2026-07-23\n[2] [Fletcher, Hodges, Featherstone and Maddox move past Primaries - Bedford County Post](https://www.bedfordcountypost.com/news/2026/05/07/fletcher-hodges-featherstone-and-maddox-move-past-primaries/) - accessed 2026-07-23\n[3] [2026 Tennessee county mayoral elections - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Tennessee_county_mayoral_elections) - accessed 2026-07-23\n\n## Further candidate material (not accessible for this profile)\n- [Fletcher, Hodges, Featherstone and Maddox move past Primaries - Bedford County Post](https://www.bedfordcountypost.com/news/2026/05/07/fletcher-hodges-featherstone-and-maddox-move-past-primaries/) (paywalled)","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_mayor","county":"Bedford","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"TN","title":"County Mayor"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"CHAD","fullname":"CHAD FLETCHER","lastname":"FLETCHER","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_mayor","contest_title":"County Mayor","county":"Bedford","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-08-06","office_county":null,"office_key":"county_mayor","office_title":null,"party":"R","pgr":"general","state":"TN"}],"county":null,"cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_mayor","contest_title":"County Mayor","county":"Bedford","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-08-06","office_county":null,"office_key":"county_mayor","office_title":null,"party":"R","pgr":"general","state":"TN"},"party":"R","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"county_mayor","office_title":"County Mayor","state":"TN","terms":[]}],"summary":"Republican nominee for Bedford County Mayor; won the 2026 GOP primary. Longtime educator and the county schools' Director of School Safety.","terms":[],"token":"D9BtIPUhJ4"}