As Tennesseans prepare to head to the polls on August 4, where they will vote on whether to retain the state’s five Supreme Court justices, The Tennessee Star is profiling each justice who currently sits on the bench.
Justice Sharon Lee was first appointed to the Court by former Governor Phil Bredesen (D) in 2008. She was retained by voters in 2010, and in 2014. From 2014 to 2016, she served as the state’s chief justice.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) provided the cash-poor Tennessee Democratic Party with more than $1 million through the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) he controls, which local Democrats have used to hire an army of 61 Bredesen campaign workers, many of them from out-of-state. The three Bredesen campaign workers –Will Stewart, James W. Miller, and Maria Amalla–who were captured on video saying that Bredesen lied about his Kavanaugh vote are part of this army of left wing volunteers. On April 30, the Tennessee Democratic Party had less than $48,000 in its bank account, according to Federal Election Commission records. During the month of April, only 13 individuals received payroll checks from the party. The group’s poor cash position changed dramatically on June 12, when the DSCC, a political fund that has raised over $98 million this electoral cycle and is controlled by Senate Minority Leader Schumer (D-NY) through the group’s chairman in name, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), gave the Tennessee Democratic Party $495,000 in what is called a “transfer from affiliated organization.” On August 7 the DSCC donated an additional $500,000 to the Tennessee Democratic Party, and has donated an additional $38,250 in eight smaller transaction in June,…
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A large and enthusiastic crowd greeted President Trump in Johnson City on Monday night as he rallied support for Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN). The president did not disappoint, as he spent much of the evening blasting Blackburn’s Democrat opponent, former Gov. Phil Bredesen, and tearing into obstructionist Democrats in the Senate. “A vote for Bredesen is a vote for Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and the real leader of the Democrats, Maxine Waters,” the president boomed, to thunderous applause. The president tore into Democrat politicians, as Breitbart News reported: He then hit Blackburn’s Democrat opponent Phil Bredesen. Trump noted Bredesen supported driver certificates for illegal aliens. He said if Democrats get 51 seats in the Senate, then Chuck Schumer would be majority leader. Schumer is so desperate for Phil to win,” Trump said. “Marsha will be a great, great Senator,” said Trump who added that the Republicans need the votes. “We cannot allow ourselves to be pushed around,” said Trump. He said Schumer pushed Bredesen to run to try to get Democrats to take back the Senate. “Your vote in this election will decide which…
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Former Tennessee Governor Winfield Dunn, a Republican, endorsed U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) for the U.S. Senate on Friday last week. Dunn picked Blackburn over one of his successors, former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, who is running against Blackburn. Blackburn and Bredesen are running for the seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). Speaking about his endorsement, Dunn said, “November’s election is not about the past; it is about the future of the state and the country. Marsha Blackburn is the only candidate who will vote to protect Tennessee values. She has dedicated her life to making things better for her fellow Tennesseans, and she will represent us faithfully in the United States Senate.” A video of Dunn’s endorsement is available to watch here. In the video, Dunn said, “I strongly urge your support and your vote for Senator Blackburn.” Responding to the endorsement, Blackburn said, “Governor Dunn made history as the first Republican governor in 50 years, but he is most well-known for his gracious spirit and love of public service. He and Betty serve as role models for each of us who seeks to serve. I am so humbled to have his endorsement.…
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The Tennessee Strong PAC has launched a new campaign tagging Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen as a Hillary Clinton-supporting opponent of President Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again agenda. The former Governor of Tennessee and Mayor of Nashville, who faces Republican nominee Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) in the November general election to succeed Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), has built his campaign around attempts to persuade Tennesseans that he is a fair minded moderate who will examine President Trump’s proposals on their merits, without regard to partisan politics. The Tennessee Strong PAC is having none of it, and is providing the hard hitting facts to back up its charges in a 30 second digital ad that demonstrates Bredesen is anything but a fair minded moderate. You can watch the ad here: The transcipt of the ad reads: Phil Bredesen claims that he won’t tow the Democrat Party line in the Senate. But Phil was hand picked to run by liberal Chuck Schumer. It’s not surprising. Phil has always supported liberal elites, donating almost half a million to their campaigns. Bredesen even donated over $30,000 to Hillary Clinton. Like Hillary, Phil joined Nancy Pelosi in criticizing President Trump’s tax…
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In yet another display of the partisan support that Phil Bredesen, Democratic Party nominee for the U.S. Senate, has generated, Nashville’s Democrat Sheriff Daron Hall has tweeted his endorsement of his party’s nominee. As a law enforcement official I can tell you…we need a person who will deal with this issue….@PhilBredesen is that person… https://t.co/GXHGg4Bhp8 — Daron Hall (@DaronHall7) August 25, 2018 Davidson County, where Hall recently won reelection in August, was carried by Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by a 60-34% margin while Trump carried the entire state by a 61-35% margin. Davidson County was one of only three of Tennessee’s 95 counties to vote for Clinton over Trump. Tennessee Star political editor Steve Gill points out that a Democrat elected official in what is arguably the most heavily Democratic county in the state, other than Memphis/Shelby County, endorsing a Democrat is not exactly a “profile in courage.” Phil Bredesen is former Mayor of Nashville and should carry it handily so the impact of the Hall tweet outside the county lines will be limited, Gill adds. “As Tennesseans see the violent crime rate in Nashville continue to spiral out of control, and with even more murders happening just this…
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Former Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen could soon become one of the wealthiest members of Congress, but the 74-year-old candidate has declined to release his income tax returns. Bredesen did recently file financial disclosures, which all candidates are required to do, revealing that he had an income of between $3.3 million and $20.1 million from January 2017 to February 2018. As governor, Bredesen maintained the practice of releasing his tax returns until he departed office in 2011, when he founded his solar energy company Silicon Ranch with two former top aides. The booming solar power producer has platforms in ten different states and has received investments of $100 million from Partners Group and $217 million from Shell. As a solar energy provider, Silicon Ranch is eligible for a 30 percent federal tax credit under the Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which was created after the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and maintained under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. In his first bid since launching Silicon Ranch, Bredesen is now declining to release his tax returns, calling the financial disclosures “much more comprehensive.” “I’m doing what the law requires,” he added. According to The Tennessean, financial disclosure…
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Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill discussed on Monday’s edition of The Gill Report – broadcast on Knoxville’s 92.3 FM WETR – how Democrats are conspiring to repeal the Trump tax cuts while record low unemployment among Hispanic and African-Americans surge and the federal government rakes in a record amount of individual tax revenue for 2018. “You know we’ve been hearing from the left ever since the Trump tax cuts were passed by the Republican House and Senate with no help at all from the Democrats,” Gill began. “Democrats – including Democrats like Phil Bredesen who is running for the US Senate – declaring that they were mere crumbs; that they would only help the wealthy and that most Americans wouldn’t see the benefits.” He added: Now keep in mind that the tax cuts for most Americans haven’t gone into effect yet. They haven’t even gone into effect, because they will go fully into effect next year. The tax cuts have been cut for the income earned this year but the benefits the tax payers will see is when they file their tax returns next April 15th. And yet your already seeing companies give bigger bonuses your seeing pay raises you’re…
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Phil Bredesen made it clear that he is going all-in with the President Trump-hating far left socialist wing of the Democrat Party when his campaign announced Thursday that two prominent entertainers who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign will be hosting a fundraiser for Bredesen in Nashville later this month. “Singer-songwriters Jason Isbell and Ben Folds are set to headline a special event in support of former Gov. Phil Bredesen’s bid for the U.S. Senate. The event, scheduled for Aug. 20, will take place at Marathon Music Works in Nashville,” The Tennessean reported. “It’s a bold strategy for someone masquerading as a moderate. Case in point: Folds is a strong supporter of socialist Bernie Sanders. And Isbell has said that President Trump is “not a good guy” whose supporters are racist,” the Senate Leadership Fund said in a statement released on Thursday. You can watch Folds’ endorsement of Sanders for President here: “The Alabama native, who now calls Nashville home, has also spoken out against President Donald Trump on more than one occasion,” the Huffington Post reported about Isbel last year: “The president is ruled by fear of alienating his base. He’s ‘sticking to the music’ to try and keep racists on his side. It’s horrifying,” he…
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The Phil Bredesen campaign tweeted on Sunday that it is looking for interns and is “open to anyone tired of the hyper-partisan squabbling.” This campaign is open to anyone who is tired of the hyper-partisan squabbling and ready to send someone to Washington who can work together to get things done for Tennessee. Interested in interning with our team? Submit your resume at https://t.co/CTcehR7zmo. pic.twitter.com/IFPVnuspL2 — Phil Bredesen (@PhilBredesen) August 5, 2018 Bredesen apparently does not consider it to be “hyper-partisan squabbling” when Mark Brown, spokesperson for the Tennessee Democrat Party, says “F*** Trump supporters. They’re all idiots.” The Tennessee Star reported the details of Brown’s vulgar comments and Bredesen’s silent acceptance of them: Republicans are raising a ruckus over a spokesman for the Tennessee Democratic Party’s use of foul language and name-calling, especially since that spokesman has been vigorously promoting the candidacy of Democrat Phil Bredesen for the U.S. Senate, who has expressed outrage at being called a “liberal.” The former governor, who is running in the U.S. Senate race against Rep. Marsh Blackburn (R-TN-07), said last week it was “name-calling” when Vice President Mike Pence said he is a “liberal.” However, Tennessee Republicans say Bredesen is deaf when it…
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Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), the GOP candidate to replace retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) in the November general election, led Tennessee Republicans on Monday evening in praising President Donald Trump and his nominee for justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, federal appeals court judge Brett Kavanaugh. “Judge Brett Kavanaugh will make a fine Supreme Court Justice, and I thank President Trump for nominating a strong constitutionalist with a proven track record of upholding the rule of law,” Blackburn said in a statement included in this tweet sent out at 9:27 pm eastern, just 20 minutes after Trump announced his pick: Tennesseans will be well served by Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and I encourage the Senate to consider his nomination expeditiously and to continue to confirm strict constitutionalist judges to our federal courts. pic.twitter.com/CD3NclJiop — Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) July 10, 2018 In contrast, former Gov. Phil Bredesen, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, offered no comments on the president’s pick of Kavanaugh. Instead, Bredesen’s campaign released this statement during the day on Monday “in advance of President Trump’s nomination of a new justice to the U.S. Supreme Court,” which largely restated the words Bredesen used in a campaign commercial last month: “An important…
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee donated $164,540 to candidates for federal and state offices during the 19 year period beginning in 1999 and ending in 2017, according to records provided to The Tennessee Star by the Lee campaign. Of that amount, 99.27 percent, or $163,340, went to Republican candidates, while 0.73 percent, or $1,200, went to Democratic candidates. Notably, as The Star reported on Saturday, $1,000 of that $1,200 to state Democratic candidates went to Gov. Phil Bredesen’s re-election campaign in 2004. The majority of those donations–$130,640–went to federal candidates, while another $33,900 went to state candidates. (Note: $12,600 of the state candidate contributions were made by Bill Lee’s wife, Maria Lee, and $3,000 of the federal candidate contributions were made in 1999 by Bill Lee and his late first wife.) All of Lee’s donations to federal candidates went to Republicans. Three percent of Lee’s $33,900 to state candidates–or $1,200–went to Democrats. The Lee campaign did not provide a list of Lee’s donations to local candidates and committees to The Star. As The Star reported previously, Lee donated $500 to disgraced former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, a Democrat, and the Lee Company, which he owns and now serves as chairman…
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The Tennessee Democratic Party is holding their annual Three Star Dinner Saturday evening in Lebanon at the Wilson County Expo Center. The event was formerly the Jackson Day Dinner until political correctness forced them to drop the reference to Andrew Jackson, the founder of the national party and one of three former Presidents from Tennessee. Alabama Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) is the keynote speaker for the event, which is intended in part to boost the prospects for former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen in his own campaign for the U.S. Senate. In his race against conservative Republican Roy Moore in Alabama, Jones portrayed himself as a centrist/moderate in order to distance himself from the baggage of being a liberal Democrat in a dark red state. Bredesen is following the same strategy, as he faces conservative Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) in a state that President Donald Trump carried handily in 2016. Once elected, Jones quickly revealed himself to be to the left of voters in Alabama. He immediately backed Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Washington liberals to oppose President Trump’s legislative initiatives. Jones has voted against funding the border wall, opposed CIA Director Gina Haspel’s nomination and voted against banning…
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If Tennessee voters send former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen to the U.S. Senate this fall then Bredesen will step down as chair Silicon Ranch, a company he founded that has ethics problems. Silicon Ranch Corporation helps finance the construction of solar arrays. According to the Tennessean, Silicon Ranch owns or operates 100 energy facilities in 14 states and employs 30 people in Nashville, San Francisco, and Denver. In 2010, before he left the governor’s seat, Bredesen had to report about his role at Silicon Ranch to the Tennessee Ethics Commission. Bredesen had a personal interest in a company that benefits from policies he enacted as governor. Bredesen, however, only made the disclosure because the Tennessean revealed Bredesen’s involvement in the company five days prior. Also involved were the state’s former Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matthew Kisber, who serves as the company’s president, and former state Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr, who serves as its vice-chairman. Tennessee Watchdog broke the story eight years ago. “One can argue that Bredesen’s personal interest in Silicon Ranch may violate the state’s Guiding Principles of Ethical Conduct for Public Officials because of conflict of interest issues, or at least the appearance of them,” according to…
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On Monday’s installment of The Gill Report – broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville – conservative political talker and Tennessee Star contributor Steve Gill discussed the latest fundraising numbers and sources of contributions in what many political watchers predict will be a hotly contested race to replace retiring junior Senator Bob Corker (TN-R): The Senate fundraising numbers are in for the first quarter of this year – January, February, March. We now know that Marsha Blackburn raised $2 million in donations just in the first quarter of this year. Phil Bredesen, her likely – almost certain – candidate opposing her in the Fall elections in November as the Democrat nominee for the US Senate has raised $1.8 million. So, about 1.8 to 2 million for Marsha – within two hundred thousand dollars. What’s interesting, though, is $1.4 million of Phil Bredesen’s $1.8 million is his money. He loaned it to his campaign. So Phil Bredesen has only raised $400,000 compared to Marsha Blackburn raising $2,000,000. Now again we’ve seen all these hyperventilating articles that “Marsha’s in trouble,” the “the Republicans are in trouble,” and that “there’s this ‘Blue Wave’ building.” Well, apparently the Blue Wave, at least for Phil Bredesen in terms of…
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A new Tennessee Star Poll released on Monday shows that Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) leads former Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, in a head-to-head general election matchup for the Tennessee U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) by 11 points, 50 percent to 39 percent. The same poll shows that Bredesen leads former Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-TN-08) by 3 points, 41 percent to 38 percent in a head-to-head matchup, within the poll’s margin of error. The automated (IVR) telephone survey of 1,003 likely Tennessee voters in the November 2018 general election was conducted for The Tennessee Star by Triton Research between January 21 and January 24 and has a 3.1 percent margin of error. Forty-six percent of poll respondents were Republicans, 25 percent were Democrats, and 27 percent were Independents. “With Bredesen having served as a two term governor, he has a strong residual of name recognition across the state that currently gives him a slight advantage over Blackburn who is less well known outside of Middle Tennessee,” conservative political commentator and media consultant Steve Gill says. “In East Tennessee, for example, a strong base of Republican voters will almost certainly help her move more of the…
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Democrat James Mackler announced on Thursday that he is withdrawing from the race to replace retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), a move that clears the Democratic field for front-runner, 74-year-old former Gov. Phil Bredesen. Mackler also launched a political action committee called “Believe in Service” to “continue holding anti-service extremists like Marsha Blackburn accountable,” WATE reported. An Iraq War veteran, Mackler, launched his campaign for the Democratic nomination in April. After Bredesen’s entry into the race for the Democratic nomination last week the 44-year-old Mackler likely did not see a path to the nomination against the far better-known Bredesen, as his announcement indicated: This is a moment for unity and we cannot risk dividing those seeking change in Washington because there is no time to waste. While I am stepping back from this U.S. Senate race, I will continue holding anti-service extremists like Marsha Blackburn accountable through a political action committee called “Believe in Service.” Using the platform Tennesseans helped me build, “Believe in Service” will support federal candidates who will protect and expand our national service programs that provide so many opportunities for service here and abroad. It has been an honor to have been a candidate during this critical time in our democracy and I am humbled…
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Last week, Tennessee’s former Governor Phil Bredesen announced that he would run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) in the 2018 election. Even though Bredesen is a Democrat and Corker is a Republican, both disfavor President Trump, both have no aversion to raising taxes, and both are okay with diverting transportation money for non-roadway projects. By the time Bredesen left the governor’s office in 2009 after eight years in the job, several tax increases had been put on cigarettes and certain managed care companies. Other revenues were raised in the form of fee increases. Corker proposed raising the federal fuel tax in 2014. Congress hasn’t raised the federal gas tax since 1993, and in 1998, over $8 billion was diverted from the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) to the general fund. This was before Corker’s time, but he still pushed his gas tax increase without tackling the diversion of HTF money for non-highway projects: A Government Accountability Office report found that 32% of the HTF didn’t go toward highway or bridge construction and upkeep from fiscal 2004-08. That rose to 38% in 2009, according to an analysis by Ron Utt, senior research fellow at the…
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The Democratic National Committee and liberals in Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco are hoping that “Pajama Gramp” Phil Bredesen will do better in the 2018 U.S. Senate race here in Tennessee than “Pajama Boy” Jon Ossoff did in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District special election back in June. You may recall that the 30-year-old Ossoff raised well over $30 million from the liberal coastal bastions in an unsuccessful attempt to take the seat long held by Republicans away from GOP nominee Karen Handel. Though Handel was outspent by about 6 to 1, the Democratic strategy in Georgia failed miserably, as she defeated “Pajama Boy” Ossoff by a comfortable five point margin. Democrats are attempting to deploy that same out-of-state funding strategy in the Alabama special U.S. Senate election next Tuesday in which far left liberal Democrat Doug Jones seeks to defeat conservative Republican Roy Moore. They’ve thrown everything but the kitchen sink at Moore — almost all the money supporting Jones’ campaign comes from out of state and some very shady money is coming in to a shell independent expenditure group that appears to be financed to the tune of $3.4 million on in-kind contributions from Washington,…
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Former Gov. Phil Bredesen, who announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) on Thursday, is a big supporter of “Mayor Moonbeam” Megan Barry’s $5.4 billion and growing mass transit boondoggle. Bredesen showed his support for the massive deal by sitting next to Barry when she announced the scheme back in October (at the time supposed to cost just $5.2 billion, according to the mayor). Barry recognized Bredesen at the announcement as having “the insight to know that an investment in infrastructure changes the city’s trajectory and changes it for decades.” “You started with the structure of the arena, then you followed it with a stadium. Go Titans. Yes. What followed from that was a city full of people, a city full of energy and a whole lot of Predators fans,” Barry said of Bredesen. It was under then-Mayor Bredesen’s term that Nissan Stadium (previously LP Field) was constructed at a cost that exceeded $291 million, $207 million or 71 percent of which came from taxpayers. The public funding came from allocations of city sales tax and other tax revenues as well as state bonds. Taxpayers are still paying those debts today,…
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Seventy-four year old former Gov. Phil Bredesen announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee currently held by retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) in a remarkably low energy two and a half minute video released on YouTube Thursday morning. Wearing a green, white, and yellow plaid shirt covered by a black and brown vest, Bredesen sat in a rocking chair on the porch of an expansive residence and delivered a somewhat sleepy message telling Tennesseans why he should be their next senator. It was a remarkably outdated approach, reminiscent of the failed “low energy” delivery that doomed the 2016 Presidential campaign of former Florida governor Jeb Bush. You can watch the full announcement here: “I’m Phil Bredesen. I’m running for the U.S. Senate, and I want to tell you why,” Bredesen began. “We all know Washington is broken. But while politicians are up there playing partisan games and working on their re-election, out here in America, back here in Tennessee, we have some real problems.” Though he touched on the “partisan games” being played in Washington, Bredesen failed to note that he was a big financial backer of one of the most partisan…
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Former Gov. Phil Bredesen’s TNInvestco program, which he promoted in 2009 as a sure fire job and revenue generator for the State of Tennessee, has been a complete financial and economic debacle, the Tennessee Comptroller reported in 2016: A performance audit from the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office has revealed the State of Tennessee has only recovered $5.3 million of its initial $200 million investment in the TNInvestco program. The TNInvestco program, which started in 2009 and 2010, is described as a public-private venture capital program intended to help start-up companies create jobs and for the state to eventually receive a return on its investment. As of December 31, 2015, the State of Tennessee has only received 2.6% of the initial investment The failure of TNInvestco is one topic Bredesen is not likely to highlight when he announces his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat in the near future, possibly as soon as today. The program can best be described as a crony capitalist disaster. The scheme devised by Bredesen was formally known as “The Tennessee Small Business Investment Company Credit Act, commonly known as TNInvestco, [which he] signed into law in July 2009,” The Tennessee Ledger noted: Under the law, ten local investment…
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Minutes after reports surfaced on Wednesday that former Gov. Phil Bredesen will soon announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), the front runner for the GOP nomination, blasted the 74-year-old Bredesen as a supporter of “President Obama’s liberal policies” who is “out-of-touch with Tennessee values.” “Tennessee families want change and that is not what 74-year-old Democrat politician Phil Bredesen will bring to the United States Senate. Bredesen’s views are out-of-touch with Tennessee values, he supported President Obama’s liberal policies, is against second amendment rights and even authored a plan to give illegal immigrants driving certificates. Marsha is the only true conservative in this race who will ensure liberal Bredesen doesn’t block President Trump’s agenda in Washington.” Blackburn’s spokesperson said in a statement release by the campaign. Conservative commentator Steve Gill added his perspective. “Tennesseans in 92 of our 95 counties overwhelmingly rejected Hillary Clinton as President; but Phil Bredesen and his wife Andrea Conte voted for her. Federal Election Commission records show they also donated more than $69,000 to Hillary’s election through her campaign, SuperPAC and the Democratic National Committee operation on her behalf, not to mention thousands more to the most…
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The Nashville Post is reporting that former Gov. Phil Bredesen is running for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee: Former Gov. Phil Bredesen is entering the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. According to multiple sources, Bredesen began calling major donors this afternoon to confirm that he is in the race. He has been mum about a campaign since U.S. Sen. Bob Corker announced he would step down next year, only acknowledging that he was contemplating a run. A formal announcement of his intent to run has not yet been made. “Three sources confirmed the Democrat’s candidacy, as first reported by the Nashville Post, on Wednesday,” The Tennessean confirmed late Wednesday. The 74-year old Bredesen will face 44-year old James Mackler in the August 2018 Democratic primary if he gets in the race as expected. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) is considered the front runner for the Republican nomination. She faces former Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-TN-08) and Dr. Rolando Toyos in the Republican primary.
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Political commentator and media consultant Steve Gill told WKRN’s Chris Bundgaard on Tuesday that former Gov. Phil Bredesen is waiting to see who wins the hotly contested Alabama U.S. Senate race next Tuesday between liberal Democrat Doug Jones and conservative Republican Roy Moore. “I think the impact on Tennessee is Phil Bredesen is waiting to see what happens in Alabama to determine whether or not to see if he gets into a Senate race in Tennessee,” Gill told Bundgaard. You can watch the video of the WKRN interview here: WKRN noted that a prominent Democrat disagrees: House Democratic Caucus Chair Mike Stewart disagrees, saying, “Governor Bredesen would be strong in Tennessee no matter what happens in Alabama. He would be a powerful candidate.” Former Northern Alabama U.S. Attorney and Democrat Doug Jones is in a tight race with Republican and former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. “(Trump) still has huge approval ratings in the state, and you cannot be seen as anti-Trump or not Trump enough and win a Republican Primary in Tennessee,” Gill said. “The issues are more important than the personalities, so if you have to–hold your nose and vote,” he concluded. Bredesen has long…
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The Tennessee Journal first reported details of three separate reputable polls that have been conducted in Tennessee which were focused on the 2018 Senate race to fill the seat being vacated by Senator Bob Corker. With the August Republican primary still nine months away, the polls all show Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn with a significant lead in statewide name recognition, a strong edge in approval versus disapproval numbers and a large margin in either a head to head matchup with former 8th District Congressman Stephen Fincher or a three way race with Fincher and former Americans for Prosperity state director Andy Ogles. The polls were all conducted before physician Rolando Toyos, formerly of Memphis, but now of Nashville, entered the race. All three surveys show Blackburn well ahead of Fincher, with each of the polls having been conducted in late September, early October, and late October. Details from the private surveys were made available to The Tennessee Journal as well as The Tennessee Star. Although Fincher supporters have been claiming that the race is a “dead heat” the poll numbers tell a different story. First, any candidate running in the August Republican primary — for any office in Tennessee — must…
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During the six years he has served as the head of Tennessee’s state government, Gov. Haslam has cut the state’s portion of the Highway Fund budget by an annual average of $56 million when compared to his predecessor, Gov. Phil Bredesen. In the last six years of Gov. Phil Bredesen’s eight-year term, between FY 2005-06 and FY 2010-11, the annual average state allocation to the Highway Fund was $833 million. While the actual dollars fluctuated from year to year, overall the Highway Fund budget grew about 12 percent in those six years. Under Gov. Haslam, the state’s portion of the Highway Fund budget shrank to an annual average of $777 million during the six years between FY 2011-12 and FY 2016-17. That is an average annual reduction of $56 million, an overall reduction of 7 percent. The total Highway Fund grew 2 percent per year under Gov. Bredesen, and has been reduced 1.1 percent per year by Gov. Haslam. In that same six-year period, Gov. Haslam’s total state budget grew 18 percent. “The detailed breakdown of reduction in road spending under Governor Haslam is shocking but, unfortunately, not surprising,” State Sen. Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) tells The Tennessee Star. “I…
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