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July 05, 2006
House Data Gain?
Primaries offer little insight into the major parties’ struggle for Capitol control
All ninety-nine seats in the Tennessee House of Representatives are included in this election cycle. The Democrats have maintained control of the House since Reconstruction, but Republican hopes are higher than ever that this will be their year to take over. The August 3 primary will determine each party’s nominees, and in many cases the outright winner. We’ll walk through the open seats, and ones in which incumbents face opposition from their own party members, and finish up with the remainder of the local contingent.
UP FOR GRABS
District 1 (Bristol, Kingsport)
Republican primary: Rep. Steve Godsey is part of this year’s musical chairs in Sullivan and surrounding counties. He’s stepping out of the House to run for County Mayor. Two Republicans, Sullivan County Commissioner John Crawford and business executive Jon Lundberg, wish to be the nominee. Though there are two Independents and one Democrat lined up for the general election, look for this race to be decided in August.
District 6 (Jonesborough, Johnson City)
Republican primary: Rep. David Davis is a frontrunner in the crowded U.S. House primary to replace outgoing Congressman Bill Jenkins, and six contenders seek to replace him. This seat stays Republican simply because no one else is running. The six in the sixth: Joshua Arrowood, Ethan Flynn, Dale Ford, Patti Jarrett, Michael A. Malone, and Lee Sowers.
District 21 (Sweetwater, Lenoir City)
Republican primary: Rep. Russell Johnson has his sights on a District Attorney position, and either Robert Joe Lee or Jimmy Matlock will end up as the GOP nominee on August 3.
District 24 (Cleveland)
Republican primary: Cleveland attorney and District 24 incumbent Dewayne Bunch is among those seeking to replace State Senator Jeff Miller. Five others have entered the race to replace Bunch. They are all Republicans: Kevin Brooks, Greg Cain, Garry Moore, Hal Roe, and Michael Willis; and this is obviously another safe Republican seat.
District 27 (Lookout Mountain, Signal Mountain, Red Bank)
Voting patterns suggest that Republicans enjoy a comfortable majority in this district of the two big mountains, but Chris Clem’s departure does remove a reliable incumbent, and neither of the two Republicans on the ballot is from one of the two big mountains. The Democrat one of them will face in November lives in Signal Mountain. GOP primary voters will have to decide whether Howard Cotter, a Red Bank City Commissioner, or Richard Floyd, also a Red Bank resident, is the best person to try and keep the district in their party’s hands.
District 31 (Sale Creek, Dayton, Spring City)
Republican primary: This is one in the list of open seats that help define this year’s battle. It’s safe Republican, though, so in that sense it’s just a replacement. Rep. Bo Watson is running (without opposition) for David Fowler’s former Senate seat, and the north Hamilton County contenders looking to replace him are Randy Fairbanks, Chris Lanier, John McDougal, George Thacker and Ed Warren. Jim Cobb is the lone GOP candidate from Rhea County.
District 42 (Cookeville)
Democratic primary: Four hopefuls are lined up to succeed outgoing Democrat Jere Hargrove: Lewis Coomer, Henry Fincher, Thomas Willoughby, and Charles Womack. Politics junkies across the state were astonished that no Republicans showed up to attempt a takeover in this somewhat conservative district. It will be a three-way race in November (the winner of this primary and two Independent candidates), but Tennesseans aren’t known for sending non-major party members to the legislature. The seat stays Democratic.
District 65 (Lewisburg, Pulaski)
Democratic primary: Eddie Bass and Lee Bussart Bowles seek to replace outgoing Democrat Joe Fowlkes.
District 66 (Springfield)
Democratic primary: Bob Bibb, Larry Fletcher, James Hubbard, and Shannon Polen are the candidates trying to keep this a Democratic seat after Gene Davidson’s retirement.
Republican primary: Patrick Carneal and Joshua Evans, on the other hand, are hoping to boost Republican majority hopes with a seat pickup here. This is one of the few true “battleground” seats in this year’s elections, so we’ll talk more about it in the fall.
District 67 (Clarksville)
Republican primary: Three local officials, who appear to be believers in the idea that the proximity of Fort Campbell and the overall “Red State” quality of the region will turn this district over to Republican control, are waging battle for the nomination. They are Montgomery County Commissioner Reber Kennedy, Jr., and Clarksville City Council members Wallace Redd and Ken Takasaki.
District 96 (Memphis)
Republican primary: When State Senator Curtis Person announced his disinclination to extend his run in the General Assembly past forty years, 96th House Rep. Paul Stanley decided to put in a bid for Person’s seat. Stanley’s House race will be decided on August 3 in a primary race between Brad Jobe and Stephen McManus.
District 97 (Bartlett)
Republican primary: Former House Minority Leader Tre Hargett quit to become a lobbyist for Pfizer, then decided against the career move but kept his plans to leave the House of Representatives. The three candidates seeking to replace him are Jim Coley, Austin Farley, and Charles Pitman. No Democrats or Independents qualified; Austin Farley has been endorsed by the Southern Party of Tennessee.
District 99 (Arlington, Lakeland)
Democratic primary: Forget which party will control the majority; what will the House do without a resident Bubba? Rep. W. C. “Bubba” Pleasant is not seeking re-election. Eric Jones and Stephen Young will face off for the Democratic nomination.
Republican primary: Glen Bascom, Jr., Steve Evans, Ron Lollar, Nolan Manley, Jonathan Myers, Clark Plunk, John Wilkerson, and Mike Wissman are the Republican contenders.
To recap, not many of these open seats appear to afford opportunities for changing partisan representation. The battle will be far from over.
GUNNING FOR YOU
District 9 (Sneedville, Rogersville)
Incumbent Mike Harrison has to beat Ed Baird and Bill Sharp in the Republican primary in order to try to retain his position.
District 18 (Knoxville)
Former Vice President Dan Quayle got into trouble for “potatoe” – but he has nothing on notorious speller and grammarian Stacey Campfield, whose ardent support of a so-called “academic bill of rights” simply leaves one puzzled at the juxtaposition. Two well-funded Republicans seek to take out Campfield in the primary. They are George Dodson and Gary Drinnen.
District 23 (Athens, Tellico Plains)
Incumbent Bob McKee has endured a lot of verbal flak for his support of House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, and now he must face a serious challenge from newcomer Mike Bell. The state party appears to be out for some serious revenge, but of course it’s all unofficially so.
District 35 (New Tazewell, Rutledge)
“Coach” Roach has two fellow Republicans aiming at toppling him: Rick Brewer and Judi Runions Swilling. I think Brewer and Swilling should just work together, since their names do so well.
District 39 (Lynchburg, Sewanee)
Democrat George Fraley faces a primary challenger, Wayne Brandon, and then either Ray Burns or Bill Green in November.
District 53 (Nashville)
Quintessa Hathaway will try to unseat Janis Baird Sontany.
District 54 (Nashville)
Edith Taylor Langster has three other Democrats aiming to topple her: Terry Clayton, Melvin Gill, and Metro Council member Brenda Gilmore.
District 58 (Nashville)
Mary Pruitt fights to maintain her position against challenger Jason Powell.
District 77 (Newbern, Union City)
Philip Pinion will probably easily defeat Jim Theriac.
District 85 (Memphis)
Larry Turner gets a double challenge from Errol Harmon and Paul Lewis.
District 89 (Memphis)
Larry Henson will try to unseat Beverly Marrero in the Democratic primary.
District 91 (Memphis)
Speaker Pro Tempore Lois DeBerry will face Kavin Carter.
District 92 (Memphis)
Henri Brooks, who is the less famous loser to Ophelia Ford in an extremely close race, draws two Democratic challengers, Elbert Rich, Jr. and Michael Saine.
ON THE HOME FRONT
We covered our two open seats above (27 and 31), and here’s what’s happening in the rest of Hamilton County’s districts on primary day.
District 26 (Harrison, Ooltewah)
Republican Rep. Gerald McCormick is unopposed after his first term in the district long represented by Bobby Wood.
District 28 (Chattanooga)
No primary here; we’ll examine the general election match-up between Democratic incumbent Rep. Tommie Brown and Independent challenger “Ike” Robinson sometime after Labor Day.
District 29 (Chattanooga)
Rep. JoAnne Favors is unopposed. Favors also serves as Vice Chair of the Hamilton County Democratic Party.
District 30 (East Ridge)
Vince Dean was appointed to the House by the county commission after former Rep. Jack Sharp passed away earlier this year. No one else qualified to run, so Vince Dean is unopposed in August and in November, and will keep this seat on the Republican side. Dean is also mayor of East Ridge.
Remember to vote in this important election, even if you’re not a passionate partisan. After all, the county general is held on the same day. The Civic Forum will devote the remainder of July to Hamilton County offices. Early voting starts July 14, but it’s not wise to vote before one has critically examined every ballot.
[This column appears in the July 5, 2006 Pulse.]
Pulsations , State House Elections | By joe lance | 09:24 AM