State Political Profile: Tennessee
Governor
Incumbent Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, had no serious Republican opposition until state Sen. Jim Bryson announced his candidacy the week of the filing deadline. The late start puts Bryson at a serious fundraising disadvantage compared to the governor, who has raised more than $5.7 million since 2003.
Bredesen, the 62-year-old former mayor of Nashville, is broadly popular and has won praise from many state Republicans for his moves to reduce state spending. A native of upstate New York, Bredesen founded a health care company in Nashville in 1980. He describes his political philosophy as a "third way of common sense" that ignores the traditional splits between liberals and conservatives. His first term was dominated by the funding crisis at TennCare, the state's Medicaid program. Escalating costs led Bredesen to cut 191,000 adults from the program and reduce benefits for thousands of others. But even after the cuts, a statewide poll in November showed a majority of both Democrats and Republicans still had a favorable view of him.
Bryson, 44, is the founder and chairman of a Nashville-based marketing research company. He was the surprise winner of the 2002 Republican primary for the state Senate seat and represents a conservative suburban district south of Nashville. As a senator, Bryson has been most active on moral and social issues. He is best known for sponsoring a 2003 measure to create "Choose Life" specialty license plates. Other Bryson-sponsored proposals including efforts to make a state spending cap part of the Tennessee Constitution and to prevent homosexuals from adopting children have not made it through the General Assembly.
U.S. Senate
The most interesting 2006 race in Tennessee will be to replace Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who has said he will not run for a third term. The Democratic candidate is almost sure to be U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., who has represented his Memphis district, a Democratic stronghold, for nearly 10 years. The Republicans have three serious candidates: two former congressmen, Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary, and an independently wealthy but lesser-known candidate, former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker.
The race likely will be one of the most expensive in Tennessee history. Corker announced his intention to run in October 2004 and has out-raised his GOP opponents. Ford, a rising star among national Democrats, has been criticized by opponents for collecting a large portion of his money from outside Tennessee.
Ford, trying to become the fourth black U.S. senator since Reconstruction, has positioned himself as a moderate Democrat in a state that has trended Republican recently. He has excellent name recognition, but he will struggle to overcome his family's notorious reputation. His uncle, John Ford, resigned from the state Senate last year following bribery and extortion charges. His father, former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Sr., was indicted in 1987 for receiving allegedly illegal loans, but was later acquitted. The younger Ford, who has never been accused of wrongdoing, says voters will be able to distinguish him from his controversial relatives.
Bryant and Hilleary are competing for the conservative base in the suburban areas of the state as well as right-leaning eastern Tennessee. The two have similar backgrounds, both serving four terms in Congress in the late '90s. Bryant lost to now Sen. Lamar Alexander in the 2002 Republican primary to replace Sen. Fred Thompson. Hilleary lost the 2002 gubernatorial race to Phil Bredesen. Both candidates have raised about three-quarters of a million dollars. Political experts say if Bryant or Hilleary would drop out of the race, the remaining candidate would likely beat Corker, who has a large war chest but limited experience as a candidate. But if Bryant and Hilleary stay in the race and split the conservative vote, that might give Corker a better chance.
U.S. House
Tennessee's U.S. House incumbents face no serious opposition in 2006, but more than 40 candidates have lined up to compete for the two vacant seats one in Memphis and one in upper east Tennessee.
The Memphis seat has long been a Ford family affair. Harold Ford Jr. held the seat for 10 years before deciding to run for U.S. Senate, and his father, Harold Ford Sr., had the seat for 22 years before that. Now Ford Jr.'s younger brother, Jake Ford, is running as an independent, and his younger cousin, Joseph Ford Jr., has moved back to Memphis from Los Angeles to run as a Democrat.
But there's no guarantee either Ford can win in this crowded race. There will be 15 Democrats in the primary, including Joseph Ford Jr.; state Sen. Steve Cohen; Nikki Tinker, Ford's former campaign manager; Tyson Pratcher, a Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton staffer; state Rep. Joe Towns Jr.; county commissioner Julian T. Bolton; and former assistant city attorney Edward L. Stanton. Other Democrats are Jesse Blumenfeld, Ruben Fort, Lee Harris, Joseph B. Kyles, Marvell Mitchell, Ron Redwin, Ralph White and William Whitman. Six Republicans are running in the heavily Democratic district: Derrick Bennett, Beverly Jones, Rudolph Daniels, Tom Guleff, Cecil Hale and Mark White. The other independent candidate is Jesse Neely.
There's a similarly crowded field on the other end of the state. Bill Jenkins, a five-term congressman from Rogersville, announced he wouldn't seek re-election this year, and 18 candidates jumped in to take his place, including 12 Republicans, four Democrats and four independents.
The Republican candidates are Peggy Parker Barnett, Colquitt "C.P." Brackett, Bill F. Breeding Jr., Vance W. Cheek Jr., Claude Cox, David Davis, John "Jay" Grose, Douglas Heinsohn, Richard H. Roberts, Phil Roe, Dan Smith, Richard Venable and Larry Waters. The Democrats in this traditionally Republican district are Joel Goodman, Richard Alan Howell, Rick Trent and Dennis Dean Whaley. The independents are Michael Peavler, James W. Reeves, Mahmood "Michael" Sabri and Robert N. Smith.
Legislature
Republicans hope to gain a wider majority in the Senate, where the GOP holds an 18-15 majority. A larger majority might mean the GOP has a chance of ousting Democrat John Wilder of Mason as lieutenant governor and speaker of the Senate. Wilder is the longest-serving leader of a governmental body in the U.S. and retained his position when two Republican senators joined with Democrats to re-elect him.
All House members will be up for re-election, and the Democrats hold a 53-47 majority in that chamber.
-- Associated Press
