(Note: these learning modules encompass the
actual class lectures, and are designed for those students who have to miss
class through no fault of their own, and also as a refresher for all students.
Bold print in the notes are what the professor writes on the board.)
Tennessee has a history of statesmen Senators respected
across the nation. In the 1950s, both of the state’s U.S. Senators were racial
moderates, Democrats Estes Kefauver and Al Gore Sr. Both were New Deal
economic liberals who refused to sign the 1956 segregationist Southern
Manifesto. Kefauver was such a maverick that he took on the Communist witch
hunter demagogue Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy, and he chaired a special
committee investigating organized crime, which angered many Democrats as he
found a linkage between crime and big city Democratic machines (Kefauver's
national prominence led to his selection as the party's Vice Presidential
candidate in 1956.). The economic and racial liberal Senator Al Gore Sr.
finally lost re-election in 1970, as a conservative Republican blasted him for
opposing the Vietnam War, opposing Nixon’s anti-ballistic missile system, and
opposing two southern nominees to the Supreme Court. Republicans had their own
star in Howard Baker, elected to the Senate in 1966 (the third GOP southern
senator after Tower and Thurmond). From traditionally Republican mountainous
East Tennessee, Baker was a fresh face with boyish good looks and charm,
intelligence, honesty, and a mild-mannered and soft-spoken demeanor. A moderate
conservative overall, he was a racial liberal who supported the 1967 fair
housing bill and the extension of the Voting Rights Act. Baker became famous
for seeking the truth during the Watergate hearings, asking “What did the
President know, and when did he know it?” His Republican colleagues elected him
GOP leader, and he briefly was a presidential candidate in 1980.
Tennessee Democrats have had some
pragmatic and skillful political candidates, who achieved national prominence.
Gore’s son Al Gore Jr. was one of them, following his father’s footsteps
to win a Senate seat in 1984. Al Gore wisely distanced himself from his
national party (Reagan went on to win 59% of Tennessee’s vote that year.), as
he talked about how as a four-term congressman he had just worked on solving
people’s problems on such non-ideological issues as setting baby formula
nutritional standards, toxic waste cleanup, and arms control. Gore pointed out
that President Reagan had signed three bills that he had cosponsored, including
one that strengthened penalties for repeat offenders. Gore as Senator held open
meetings for constituents in every county, maintained a moderate liberal voting
record, and swept every county in winning re-election with a 68% margin.
Perhaps as Clinton’s Vice President he became too identified with the liberal
national Democratic Party, as he aggressively defended President Clinton during
the impeachment trial, and then went on to lose the 2000 presidential election
by failing to carry his own state!
It is impressive that despite the
modern South being so dominated by Republicans, Tennessee Democrats were able
to elect two, 2-term governors in recent decades. Ned McWherter, an
18-year state legislative veteran and House Speaker, was a fiscal conservative
who as Speaker balanced the state’s budget without gimmicks, shored up the
state pension plan, and was conservative on bond bills. For eight years before
his 1986 election as governor, McWherter made speeches across the state,
amassed IOUs by backing Democratic candidates, and visited every county to
build a campaign organization. Democrats united behind him with a Unity bus
tour with his two defeated Democratic primary rivals plus African American
Congressman Harold Ford (who had a formidable Memphis organization). As
governor, McWherter improved education (smaller class sizes, more technology in
the classroom), developed a TennCare health care program for the working poor,
built more roads, and attracted new industry to rural areas. Democrats won the
governorship in 2002 with Phil Bredesen, a businessman and 2-term mayor
of Nashville, who had led his city to a Best Places to Live rating by improving
education by hiring more teachers and building new schools. As governor,
Bredesen raised teacher salaries, preserved health care for children under the Medicaid
program, created a new state health program called Cover Tennessee, and
attracted new industry as Tennessee became the North American headquarters of
Nissan.
So, what happened? Beginning in 1994,
Republicans have consistently controlled both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats,
and Bredesen has been the only Democratic governor. Indeed, I can remember
election night in 1994 when the GOP swept the nation in Clinton’s first midterm
election. Both of the state’s Senate seats were up because of Gore’s
resignation to become Vice President, and after a station break the newscaster
with a somber face announced: “A double killing in Tennessee.” The modern GOP
success in Tennessee started not only with the legendary Howard Baker, but also
with Lamar Alexander’s election as governor in 1978, his re-election
four years later, and then his three terms in the U.S. Senate. Alexander was a
Phi Beta Kappa from Vanderbilt, who as school newspaper editor had advocated
for the admission of African Americans to the school. A lawyer, he had served
on Senator Baker’s staff. Alexander ran for governor as a working man, wearing
a red and black checkered shirt, and walking 1,000 miles across Tennessee as he
talked with and listened to voters. As the corrupt outgoing Democratic
administration in their final days began selling pardons to criminals, the
Democratic-controlled state legislature rushed to swear in the new Republican
governor three days early. Alexander became known as the Education Governor, as
he enacted a large sales tax to fund his Better Schools initiatives which
included a teacher pay raise and increased funding of higher education. His
Master Teacher program rewarded teacher performance, and he established centers
and chairs of excellence in higher education. He promoted economic development
by offering attractive bids for companies to locate in Tennessee, recruited new
Nissan and General Motors Saturn plants, established a technology corridor near
Oak Ridge, and promoted tourism by publicizing the heritages of localities.
After his two terms as governor Alexander became the President of the
University of Tennessee, and then Secretary of Education under the first
President Bush. Alexander was then easily elected to the Senate in 2002 and won
two 2-1 landslide re-elections. He had a conservative voting record in the
Senate, but was known for being bipartisan, supporting universal health care
access and the development of low-carbon energy sources. As an Appropriations
Committee member, he steered federal money to the state’s TVA, Oak Ridge, and delivered
other science and technology education and research projects. His retirement in
2020 saw the election as Senator of Republican Bill Hagerty, the state's
former Economic and Community Development Commissioner and Trump's former
Ambassador to Japan, who easily defeated an African American woman
environmental justice activist, Marquita Bradshaw (who had been nominated with
36% of the vote over an Army veteran backed by the national party campaign
organization (DSCC).
The saga of the other Senate seat is
quite interesting. For eighteen years it was held by Democrat Jim Sasser, but
his roll call voting record had shifted from moderate liberal to liberal (the
most liberal of the 5 ideological categories), giving Republicans the chance to
knock him off with Nashville heart surgeon Bill Frist during their 1994
national landslide. Republicans had a tough contest replacing him in 2006, as
Democrats nominated Congressman Harold Ford Jr., a moderate liberal African
American who highlighted his religious values and opposed gay rights, partial
birth abortion, and illegal immigration. Republicans were stuck with a wealthy
real estate developer and former Chattanooga mayor, Bob Corker, a more
wooden and boring speaker. The Republican National Committee played the liberal
card against Ford with a hilarious but devastating commercial with “real
people” making fun of the Democrat’s positions: “Ford’s right, Terrorists need
their privacy… When I die, Harold Ford will let me pay taxes again… Ford’s
right, I do have too many guns… I’d love to pay higher marriage taxes.” The ad
ends with a bare shouldered attractive white female smiling and saying, “I met
Harold at the Playboy party,” and then winking into the camera and whispering,
“Harold, call me.” (check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24rM3--lIv8)
Corker won a squeaker 51% victory, which didn’t even equal his party’s 4% edge
in party identification among exit poll voters, and the fact that 90% of each
party just voted for their own party’s candidates shows how the American
parties even in the South have become very polarized. Corker won an easy 2-1
landslide re-election six years later, and the inept state Democrats ended up
repudiating their own unknown nominee who was Vice President of a conservative
advocacy group in Virginia which opposed the teaching of gay issues in the
public schools and was labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Corker served as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and he came
up with the plan to let President Obama submit the Iranian nuclear deal to the
Senate as a mere resolution instead of a treaty (treaties require a two-thirds
vote), thereby permitting Senate Democrats with only 42 votes to filibuster a
resolution disapproving of the deal. When Trump became President, he tore up
the Iranian deal and dumped on poor Corker. Upon retiring, Corker was replaced
in 2018 by our own MSU alumnus, Marsha Blackburn. Congresswoman
Blackburn was a Tea Party favorite and conservative who is often on Fox news.
She got considerable national Republican support, as Trump and Pence each
visited Tennessee three times, and five GOP Senators came to campaign for her
(including southerners Rubio, Graham, Tillis, and Cotton). With a big GOP
advantage among exit poll voters, Blackburn knocked off former governor
Bredesen. Her key committee assignments include Judiciary and Finance.
Republicans in 2018 also retained the governorship with
businessman and political newcomer Bill Lee, who easily bested a
two-term Nashville mayor. Lee kept his campaign positive, said he felt called
to serve, and promised to be governor of every Tennessean. He visited all 95
counties in the state twice in his RV. Lee was reelected in 2022 by a 2-1
margin, reflecting the 64% of voters who were Republicans and his positive ads
touting his accomplishments in expanding "women's health care offerings,
expanded TennCare benefits for new mothers, and efforts aimed at foster care
and adoption" (Associated Press October 15, 2022, As election nears, Tennessee
Gov. Bill Lee won't debate Martin. Website www.localmemphis.com). Lee’s
election reflects the focus of successful governors of both parties on state
issues that benefit all residents, instead of on partisan and divisive issues.