Tag: State Rep. Mark Pody

SHOCKER: GOP’s Mark Pody Barely Avoids Upset in Narrow Victory Over Democrat in State Senate Special Election

Tennessee Star Staff

In a shockingly close election, Republican State Rep. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) narrowly defeated Democratic candidate Mary Alice Carfi in the 17th State Senate District’s special election by a mere 308 votes on Tuesday, 5,990 to 5,682, in unofficial results obtained by The Tennessee Star. Barring a recall challenge from Carfi, Pody will take over the State Senate seat left by former State Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet), who resigned in August to devote full time to her campaign for governor, and be seated in the Tennessee State Senate when the Tennessee General Assembly reconvenes in January. The surprisingly narrow margin of victory for Pody, 51 percent to 49 percent, was dramatically lower than the last time the State Senate seat was contested in 2010, when Beavers easily won by a 24 percent margin. When Beavers ran for re-election in 2014, the Democrats did not field a candidate. The slim margin of victory for Pody was even more surprising, given that the Democratic candidate spent very little money on her campaign, focusing instead on get-out-the-vote efforts, sources tell The Star. A county-by-county analysis of the vote total, as seen here on the tally board at Pody election headquarters on Tuesday night,…

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Mark Pody Favored to Win Special Election to State Senate on Tuesday

Tim Dukeman

State Rep. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon), the Republican nominee in Tuesday’s special election in Tennessee’s 17th State Senate District, is heavily favored to defeat the Democratic nominee Mary Alice Carfi in the traditionally conservative district.. The seat was vacated by longtime incumbent State Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet), who resigned the seat in August to run for the Republican nomination for governor of Tennessee. Pody is favored in a district that elected Beavers to four consecutive terms in the Tennessee State Senate. In her most recent General Election matchup, she won 62% of the vote in 2010, winning the race by a margin of 24 points. After that resounding defeat, the Democratic Party did not field a candidate against her when she ran for re-election in 2014. Tennessee’s 17th district is heavily Republican, but that is not the only reason to expect a Pody victory. He has also been endorsed by The National Federation of Independent Business, a leading Tennessee small-business association, as the group announced in a statement: “Mark Pody is the clear choice for small business in the special election in Senate District 17,” said Jim Brown, state director of NFIB/Tennessee. “He has earned NFIB’s endorsement with his fiscally responsible approach to managing…

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Mark Pody Announces Candidacy for State Senate Seat Mae Beavers Is Leaving to Run for Governor

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

  State Rep. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) announced today that he is a candidate for the State Senate seat that Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) is leaving to run for the Republican nomination for governor in 2018. “I want to officially announce that I am a candidate for the 17th Senatorial District in the state of Tennessee,” Pody told The Tennessee Star in an exclusive interview. “Senator Mae Beavers is going to be running for governor, and she’s going to make an awesome conservative governor. That leaves her seat open, and I want to make sure that seat is filled by a good conservative individual. I want to run for that seat,” Pody added.   “Here are the reasons why I think that this is important,” he said. “First, we have to have somebody watching our money. And I promise you this is taxpayer money, it is not government money. I’m going to be watching how we spend that money. We want to make sure that we only spend it on the limited things that government is supposed to do,” he continued. “Government is not something for every single idea. Just because it’s a good idea doesn’t make it a government idea,”…

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: State Rep. Mark Pody: Protesters ‘Interested in Just Yelling for the Cameras’

Tennessee Star Staff

The Tennessee Star’s Laura Baigert sat down with State Rep. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) for this exclusive interview on Capitol Hill Wednesday about the recent protest that disrupted a press conference he had scheduled with State Sen. Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet). Here’s the transcript: Baigert: We’re here with Rep. Pody from district 46, which is Wilson, DeKalb, and Cannon Counties. Rep. Pody, last week you were the subject of a protest, the beginning of it, that’s been going on the last week. Can you give us your take on what you’ve been seeing? State Rep. Pody: Absolutely. And it won’t even be the beginning of the protest, because I think there’s been a lot of protest going on. However, this has been maybe a focal point, with a lot of things happening with protesters. Now, they started protesting actually as soon as we got into session. So the very first day we were here they were protesting. And a couple times when we would go in to session they were protesting. It was ironic because sometimes when we got to the session, we got to actually sitting down at the desk and [State Rep.] Judd Matheny was sitting right with me…

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State Rep. Mark Pody: ‘I Don’t Believe the 7 Cents Gas Tax is Going to Go Anywhere’

Tennessee Star Staff

State Rep. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) told Ralph Bristol on 99.7 FM WWTN’s Nashville Morning News on Tuesday that Gov. Haslam’s proposal to increase the gas tax by 7 cents per gallon to fund road construction is dead-on-arrival in the State House of Representatives. “I don’t believe the 7 cents gas tax is going to go anywhere,” Pody told Bristol. “To be clear, you don’t think the governor’s full proposal, as is, will make it out of the House?” Bristol asked. “If it’s going to say gas tax on cars, I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere,” Pody responded. “Is that a survey or a hunch?” Bristol pressed the question further with Pody, who has his own alternative to the governor’s proposal. “If I have to run my proposal [through the Transportation Subcommittee], I have to know where the votes are,” Pody told Bristol. “I don’t think the votes are there for the governor’s proposal,” Pody said. “Right now I don’t think the governor’s plan would have the votes to get out of the House,” Pody said. Pody praised Gov. Haslam for bringing the issue of road tax funding up for consideration by the General Assembly. “I’m glad that the…

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