He’s back! Joe Carr making another run for political office

Former state Rep. Joe Carr (R-Lascassas) is taking another stab at running for public office. This time it’s for Rutherford County mayor, where incumbent Bill Ketron may be vulnerable after legal problems related to his former insurance business and a $135,000 civil penalty he received for numerous campaign finance violations.

Since leaving the General Assembly, Carr has unsuccessfully run for two different U.S. House seats, the U.S Senate, state Republican Party chair, and the state Senate. He was hired to work in Gov. Bill Lee’s administration after endorsing the Republican during the 2018 gubernatorial primary, but left after about a year. Carr was also a prominent backer of Manny Sethi’s U.S. Senate bid last year. The latter lost to now-Sen. Bill Hagerty of Nashville in the Republican primary.