Tennessee Senate Passes Bill Banning Politicians from Running in Multiple Elections at the Same Time

Richard Briggs

The Tennessee State Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would ban politicians in the state from seeking more than one elected office simultaneously.

SB 1968 passed the Tennessee Senate on Thursday with 17 votes in favor and 15 votes against. The bill, introduced by Senator Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville), would prohibit an individual from holding multiple elected offices in Tennessee, and would also ban any politician in the state from actively campaigning for more than one elected position.

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State Senator Heidi Campbell Is Effectively the Democrat Nominee for TN-5

State Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) is effectively the Democrat nominee in the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat.

Two candidates submitted qualifying petitions signatures to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office, Campbell and Justicia Rizzo. The Secretary of State’s office lists on Campbell’s petitions signatures as approved.

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Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office Approves the Qualifying Petitions of 14 Candidates in Race for TN-5 Seat

As of April 7, the date of the qualifying petitions filing deadline, the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office has approved the submissions of fourteen candidates in the race for Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District seat.

Eleven Republicans, one Democrat, and two Independents are listed as by the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office as having their petitions signatures approved.

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Democrat State Senator Heidi Campbell Enters Race for TN-5

Democrat State Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) filed papers with the Federal Election Commission establishing her as a candidate for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.

Democrat political consultant Chip Forrester is her campaign treasurer.

Campbell, the former mayor of Oak Hill in Davidson County, was first elected to the Tennessee State Senate in 2020, defeating then-incumbent Republican State Senator Steve Dickerson.

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20 Individuals Are Now Collecting Petitions for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District

two individuals signing documents on a table

Twenty individuals are now listed as collecting qualifying petitions for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District race as of last Friday by the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office.

Fourteen people are collecting qualifying petitions for the GOP primary, three are gathering petitions for the Democrat primary, and three independents are also accumulating petitions.

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Tennessee State Senate Staffer Says He Thinks He’ll Be the Donald Trump Candidate in TN-5 GOP Primary

Tres Wittum

A Tennessee state Senate staffer is considering running in the Republican primary for the 5th Congressional District and says that he thinks he’ll be the Donald Trump-endorsed candidate if he runs.

Charles Garfield Wittum III aka Tres Wittum, a senate aide to Senator Bo Watson (R-Hixson), has told The Tennessee Star that he is considering entering the already crowded Republican field for TN-5.

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Eleven Candidates Now Collecting Qualifying Petitions for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District Republican Primary Ballot

Tennessee Capitol building

Eleven individuals are now collecting qualifying petitions for the Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional district Republican primary ballot. Including three Democrats and three Independents, a total of seventeen people are collecting petitions in order to qualify to run for office under Party and state rules.

The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office posts the names of individuals who are collecting qualifying petitions for various Tennessee elections every Friday. The latest individuals to begin collecting petitions to earn their spot on the Republican primary ballot for TN-5 ballot are former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Beth Harwell, businessman Baxter Lee, and Stewart Parks. All are listed as being from Nashville.

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Fourteen Candidates Collecting Petitions in Race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District

Tennessee State flag

The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office has posted their updated list of individuals who have begun collecting petitions to run for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat.

Fourteen candidates are collecting petitions for the 5th Congressional seat: Eight Republicans, three Democrats, and three Independents are listed by the Secretary of State’s office as having begun collecting petitions.

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Quincy McKnight Drops Out of TN-5 Republican Primary, Endorses Ortagus, and Announces Run for Nashville Mayor

The candidate field in the Republican primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional seat has shrunk, with one candidate dropping out.

In a statement given to The Tennessee Star, Nashville businessman Quincy McKnight announced that he is dropping out of the race and is endorsing former Trump administration State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus.

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Tennessee Candidates for Public Office Begin Collecting Petitions

brown clipboard

February 7, 2022 marked the official start of Tennessee’s elections season, the day that candidates in Tennessee could pull ballot qualifying petitions paperwork and begin collecting petitions to work towards gaining ballot access.

The Thursday, August 4, 2022 state and federal primary elections will be held for Governor, U.S. House of Representatives, odd-numbered Tennessee State Senate districts and Tennessee State House of Representatives. There will also be general elections held for held for state judicial offices and applicable county offices.

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Tennessee Senate Passes Bill Regulating Election Funding from Individuals, Businesses, Corporations, or Political Parties

Wednesday morning, the Tennessee Senate passed a bill to regulate funding for conducting local and state elections. SB 1534/HB 966 would require funds from private individuals, businesses, and corporations to receive approval from various elected state officials.

State Representative Michele Carringer (R-Knoxville) and State Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield) are the sponsors on the legislation. 

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Acclaimed Director and Producer Robby Starbuck to Run Against Representative Jim Cooper in 2022

Robby Starbuck intends to become 2022’s leading Republican candidate, challenging Congressman Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) for his long-held seat. Starbuck is the son of Cuban refugees, husband to musical artist and anti-human trafficking activist Landon Newsom Starbuck, and father of three young children.

Starbuck was the first to announce a campaign run for the 2022 election, just two days after Election Day. This year, no Republican candidates contested Representative Cooper during the election. In an interview with The Tennessee Star, Starbuck explained that he’s running to put working families first in all policies, preserve individual freedoms, and improve Tennessee’s educational system.

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Steve Gill Commentary: When It Comes to Understanding Voter Turnout, Information That is ‘Accurate’ is Not Always ‘True’

by Steve Gill   A friend of mine recently asked me about a report that claimed that Tennessee had ranked at the very bottom among states in voter participation in the 2014 off-year general election. I was admittedly skeptical,  so I reviewed the report, which is attached HERE. More detailed Tennessee specific data from Pew Research is HERE. In 2014 Tennessee saw just 29 percent of citizens eligible to vote turn out and actually vote. That ranked Tennessee 50th out of all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. (We nudged out Texas to avoid the bottom spot.) Interestingly, 2014 was a low turnout election nationally, as none of the largest most populous states had competitive elections that year. Nationally, only 36.6 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot, the lowest percentage in a midterm since World War II. Only 83.2 million voters turned out, down from 90.9 million in 2010. Not surprisingly, competition is the most important key to voter participation. Thus, while the data about Tennessee’s low voter participation in 2014 may be “accurate,”it doesn’t reflect anything nefarious or diabolical regarding voter suppression or even structural barriers to voter participation that need action. A closer examination of the…

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