Murfreesboro businessman Shane Reeves, a Republican, won a crushing victory over Democrat Gayle Jordan in the 14th State Senate District special election on Tuesday by more than a two to one margin.
The final numbers were a blowout victory for Reeves, who won 71 percent of the vote to 28 percent of the vote for Jordan, according to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s election website.
Reeves received 13,139 votes, while Jordan received only 5,179 votes.
He is expected to be sworn in as a member of the Tennessee State Senate this week, and will join the deliberations of the Tennessee General Assembly, which is now in session.
With Reeves’ victory, Republicans now hold 28 seats in the 33 member Tennessee State Senate, while Democrats hold only five.
Tennessee Republican Party Scott Golden introduced Reeves at the victory celebration held at the Five Senses Restaurant in Murfreesboro Tuesday evening.
“We had an amazing team. Matt Herriman, my campaign chairman, has an amazing future with this party,” Reeves said.
“Gregory Gleaves did a lot of great mail for us,” he added.
“We had an amazing ground team. Daniel,Tyler, Taylor, raise your hands guys! Thousands and thousands of phone calls, thousands and thousands of doors, and turned out the voters. The ground game was just unbelievable,” Reeves said.
Reeves also thanked State Chairman Scott Golden and the local party chairs.
A number of Republican members of the State Senate were also in attendance, including State. Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga), State Sen. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon), State Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), State Sen. Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield), and State Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Franklin). Reeves recognized them and thanked them for coming.
After State Senator-elect Reeves’ speech, The Tennessee Star spoke with his father, former Murfreesboro Mayor Richard Reeves.
“It’s a great night here in Murfreesboro, Tennessee,” the senior Reeves told The Star.
“I think Shane said he was the seventh generation from Murfreesboro. I think Shane will do a great job in representing this district. And I’m going to go home tonight after this, and I’m going to pray for Shane and his opponent. I wish them both the best,” Reeves added.
Notably, Shane Reeves’ Democratic opponent, Gayle Jordan, made national news by loudly proclaiming that she is an atheist.
After the festivities, the Reeves campaign issued this statement:
Republican businessman, Shane Reeves, decisively won the special general election in state senate district 14 tonight. Even after garnering national media attention questioning Republicans chances of holding the seat, Reeves easily defeated his democratic opponent with a double-digit victory.
“I am humbled and honored to be elected to represent the 14th district as OUR State Senator. I will work hard to be the people’s voice across Rutherford, Bedford, Marshall, Lincoln, and Moore counties. I am proud of the campaigns we ran and commend the efforts of my opponents. We had a great team and I am thankful to those who worked hard to get us across the finish line tonight.”
Reeves will assume office in the coming days and get to work on the issues facing the state. He will join a Republican supermajority that has overseen record economic growth and the state’s lowest unemployment rate in decades.
“Whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, we must all move forward together to grow our district, bring new jobs, keep taxes low, and confront the issues facing Tennessee. My family and I have been overwhelmed and blessed as we have gotten to know so many new friends across our great district. I look forward to getting to work in Nashville to tackle the issues that are important to the 14th district.”
Shane Reeves will complete the term of outgoing State Senator, Jim Tracy, which is through 2020. The district includes the eastern half of Rutherford county and all of Bedford, Marshall, Moore, and Lincoln counties.
Lt. Governor Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) issued the following statement after Reeves’ victory:
“Congratulations to Senator Shane Reeves on his decisive victory tonight. His conservative message and history as a successful businessman clearly resonated with the voters of District 14. He will be a highly valuable asset as the Senate works to keep Tennessee the greatest state in the nation to live, work and raise a family. I look forward to working with him.
The Tennessee Democratic Party has now marshaled its statewide resources in two Senate special elections. They have come up empty twice. These results prove that any blue wave will hit a big, red seawall in Tennessee. The Tennessee Republican story of success is unparalleled. The Republican majority in Tennessee has reduced taxes, kept debt low and created an environment for more Tennesseans to have jobs than at any time in history. I look forward to our senators taking this clear record of success to the voters again in November.”
It just goes to show how low the GOP will stoop in order to win, and how Tennessee voters make morals, compassion, and intelligence.
Indeed! Gayle Jordan represents the real Democratic Party rather than the fantasy Democratic Party that Phil Bredesen is going to try to present. If only the Democrats candidates would represent their party as well as Gayle Jordan rather than trying to fool the electorate with the Phil Bredesens and Conor Lambs (D-PA18) Republicans would win in perpetuity.
With Republicans like Haslam, Harwell, Ramsey, Woodson, Kelsey, Overbey, Norris, Sargent, Mark White, Gardenhire, Lundberg, McCormick, Phillip Johnson, Frist, Corker, Alexander….who needs Democrats?
There is no discernible difference. Open border illegal sanctuary with free K-12 school, paid abortion providers, unconstitutional gun restrictions, corporate welfare, more and more and more spending, higher taxes, black-box voting machines, re-branded Common Core. Just like the Dems, they take public money and facilities to operate their private political club elections called “primaries” and then whine when they can’t say who is invited. Stop taking public money and you can close those primaries to whomever you want – they can be just as rigged as their delegate system is.
DEAL HORATIO!!!!!!!!!!! Just close the darn primaries and conservatives will successfully gain office so you won’t have to moan about “…no discernible difference” “. . .who needs Democrats?”
Congratulations Senator Reaves, now the good work can begin right?
Constitutional Carry should fly through, right?
This crazy idea of giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens will die a quick death, right?
School choice will become reality in Tennessee, right?
Who am I kidding, even with 28 out of 33 Republican Senators and a Republican super majority in the State House, these things won’t happen. So while “Republicans” celebrate the hard bought victory (“According to the most recent financial reports, Reeves has spent more than $550,000, while Jordan has spent $29,000.”), until “Republicans” truly start following our republican platform, these RINO’s are ALWAYS going to have to keep checking their “six”!
Conservatives have to get the sequence right or nothing will ever change. First conservatives either run self-funders or we have to give proven conservative candidates sufficient financial support so they are competitive. Second, conservatives have to close Republican Primaries so we reduce the number of Democrats who barrel into the Republican Primary to vote for the centrist/tepid conservative candidate. Third, Republican conservatives have to bestir themselves to at least vote. THEN “. . .’Republicans’ [will] truly start following our republican (sic) platform. . . .”
The cowards at The Tennessean ran no results of this election. And I suspect it’s because their candidate lost. What a pathetic excuse for a newspaper.