Cheryl Brown County Commission Oath of Office 2024

District 10 Williamson County Commissioner Cheryl Brown (left) takes the oath of office during the July 8, 2024, County Commission meeting. Also pictured is Brown's husband, Michael (center), and Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson (right).

 Matt Masters

The Williamson County Commission appointed an interim District 10 commissioner and deferred the appointment of a District 3 school board member during Monday night's meeting.

Cheryl Brown was appointed to the commission seat following a 4-3-4 vote, with Commissioners Mary Smith, Barb Sturgeon and Christopher Richards voting “no.” 

Commissioners Greg Lawerence, Lisa Hayes, Pete Stresser and Drew Torres abstained from the vote. Commissioners Ricky Jones and Matt Williams were not present.

"This is God-appointed," Brown told The News. "I never thought that I would continue in the political spectrum to this level, but now that I'm here, I am ready to do the job and to serve my community more than what I've done before."

Several citizens spoke in support of Brown prior to the commission's vote to appoint her to the seat, including now former District 10 Commissioner David Landrum, who is moving out of the district.

“Commissioner [Meghan] Guffee and I each interviewed several candidates to fill the vacancy, and ultimately, we have chosen Cheryl Brown due to her proven leadership, her experience, her serving our community; we believe that she'll make an excellent commissioner,” Landrum said.

Brown will serve in the role until the November general election when voters will elect a candidate to fill the seat.

Brown said that she will "most definitely" seek the Republican Party nomination for the seat this November.

Due to the timing of the vacancy, the seat will not have a primary, but each party will nominate candidates through a caucus. Independent candidates must submit a qualifying petition by Aug. 15.

According to Williamson County Administrator of Elections Chad Gray, if a candidate runs for a party's nomination in the caucus process but does not earn that nomination, that candidate would be ineligible to then run as an independent. 

In 2023, Brown lost her bid to continue serving as the Williamson County Republican Party's chairman, a role that she was elected to in 2019, in a major shakeup of the local GOP leadership.

When asked about the risk of not earning the party's nomination this fall, Brown replied "I expect to win."

A vote to fill the Williamson County School Board District 3 seat was deferred until the Aug. 12 commission meeting.

That seat is being vacated by District 3 board member Eliot Mitchell. Democratic nominee Diane Cochran and Republican Dennis Driggers are vying for the position.