Republicans gain in state House; Senate split unchanged
Republicans gained three seats in the House, narrowing Democrats’ majority to 54-45. The party breakdown remained 18-15 in the Senate.
Democratic governor-elect Phil Bredesen said he hopes to model his relationship with the General Assembly on the one he had with the Nashville council during his eight years as mayor.
“I will treat the Legislature with the same respect,” he said. “I think we will have a great relationship.”
House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, who held off a vigorous challenge sparked by his income tax support, said he hopes the outcome of the legislative races “will make the Democrats stick together better than we have before.”
Naifeh said he believes the top issue for the new General Assembly and governor will be responding to a recent state Supreme Court order to equalize teacher pay between urban and rural districts. It’s a potentially costly item for the state budget.
“That’s the first thing we’ll have to decide, and then we’ll go from there,” Naifeh said. “I think Phil Bredesen’s victory absolutely makes it better for us to work with the executive branch. He has a good managerial mind about him, and we’ll work together to try to move the state forward.”
There will be three new members in the 33-seat Senate and 19 new members in the 99-seat House.
Rep. Mae Beavers won the open 17th District Senate seat over Democrat Sherry Fisher to turn the seat over to Republicans.
“I think the difference was my proven record,” said Beavers, an outspoken income tax opponent. She replaces Democratic Sen. Robert Rochelle, who backed an income tax and withdrew from the race after the last legislative session ended.
Beavers said the first thing on her agenda is to pursue an independent audit of all of state government.
“Hopefully the new governor will stick to what he’s been saying and we’ll have better management of the state,” she said.
Democratic challenger Don McLeary, a banker and former University of Tennessee football player, ousted incumbent Republican Bobby Carter in the 27th District in Jackson.
In the other hotly contested Senate seat, newcomer Bill Ketron, a Murfreesboro insurance agent, defeated state Rep. Bobby Sands of Columbia and kept the seat Republican.
Another Senate seat will change hands and could change parties because Democratic state Sen. Lincoln Davis won his race for 4th District Congress. The Fentress County Commission will appoint an interim successor, and a special election will be called by the governor.
Four incumbent House members were defeated, two from each party.
Each voted for the income tax in May and one, Rep. Ronnie Davis, a Cocke County Republican, also is under a federal fraud indictment.
The other incumbents who lost were Rep. Stancil Ford, R-Talbott; Rep. Butch Lewis, D-Manchester; and Rep. Paul Phelan, D-Trenton.
“I regret that happened because those guys had the courage to stand up and do what was right,” said Naifeh, who sponsored the income tax bill that fell five votes short of a majority in May.
In all, Republicans won seven seats held by Democrats in the last General Assembly, and Democrats took four the Republicans had, giving the GOP a pickup of three seats.
Many of the legislative races focused on the income tax and budget issues that dominated the statehouse for the past four years.
Naifeh beat Tipton County GOP chairman Antonio Lopez by 832 votes, getting 53 percent of the 14,602 votes cast.
“They turned it into a referendum on the income tax, but I prevailed and feel good about it,” Naifeh said.
Forty of the 99 House seats already were decided before Tuesday, either in the August primaries or because no one challenged the incumbent. Twenty-three of those seats are held by Republicans, 17 by Democrats.
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On the Net:
Tennessee General Assembly, http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/