Robin Smith announces run for GOP nomination in House District 26; two other potential candidates step aside

Former Tennessee Republican Chairman Robin Smith says she will run for the House District 26 seat being vacated by Rep. Gerald McCormick, reports the Times Free Press. And she’ll have the backing of two men who had been considering a run for the GOP nomination.

Smith, a project management consultant whose business includes some political clients, said she got the all-clear Wednesday from Tennessee Ethics and Campaign Finance Bureau head Drew Rawlings that seeking office wouldn’t be a conflict of interest.

…”I’ve always had a heart for public service, whether I have a title or not,” said the Hixson resident, who was Hamilton County GOP chairwoman from 1998 to 2002 and ran the state party from 2007-09. “It’s just a natural extension of what I’m doing.”

She also ran unsuccessfully for the nomination in the 3rd Congressional District in 2009.

Two other potential candidates, meanwhile, said they would get behind Smith.

CPA and former party chairman Tony Sanders and Hamilton County Comissioner Greg Martin both agreed to defer to Smith. All three said they wanted to avoid a contested primary and agree the person with the fewest complications would be the candidate.

“There’s no doubt in my mind she will hit the ground [as] the most qualified newly elected person there is,” Sanders said Wednesday. His complication, he said, was that he would have to give up his hard-earned seat on the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency board.

Martin, a Realtor, agreed with Sanders.

“I think that Robin Smith perhaps will be the most qualified freshman state representative that the state Legislature has ever had,” Martin said.

“She’ll know her way around the halls of the Capitol on day one and be effective on day 1, which is great for District 26. I support her 100 percent.”