AFL-CIO makes endorsements in state, federal races
The state chapter of the AFL-CIO has announced the names of the candidates the labor group is backing this year’s primary elections. Most are either incumbents or unopposed for the Democratic nomination in their respective races.
Here’s the release from the AFL-CIO:
NASHVILLE, MAY 23, 2022- Following a joint meeting of its Executive Board and Committee on Political Education (COPE) held last week, the Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council is announcing its list of endorsed candidates ahead of the August 4th State and Federal Primary Election.
“After a robust discussion, our membership believes that the following list of candidates will best represent our interests in the Tennessee General Assembly and the halls of Congress,” said TN AFL-CIO President Billy Dycus. “Over the past two years, we’ve seen what happens when corporate special interest groups, big business, and greedy politicians continue to have unchecked power and total control of the political process. Working families are tired of being represented by legislators who couldn’t care less about their needs or well-being. It’s time to start chipping away at the supermajority and elect candidates who will stand up and speak out for all of their constituents, not just the wealthy few.”
The Council will hold another meeting in mid-August to discuss additional endorsements for the November 8th General Election, including its positions on the four proposed constitutional amendments.
U.S. House of Representatives, District 2: Mark Harmon
U.S. House of Representatives, District 5: Heidi Campbell
U.S. House of Representatives, District 7: Odessa Kelly
U.S. House of Representatives, District 9: Steve Cohen
State Senate, District 3: Kate Craig
State Senate, District 21: Jeff Yarbro
State Senate, District 29: Raumesh Akbari
State House of Representatives, District 15: Sam McKenzie
State House of Representatives, District 28: Yusuf Hakeem
State House of Representatives, District 41: John Mark Windle
State House of Representatives, District 48: Matt Ferry
State House of Representatives, District 50: Bo Mitchell
State House of Representatives, District 51: Bill Beck
State House of Representatives, District 53: Jason Powell
State House of Representatives, District 54: Vincent Dixie
State House of Representatives, District 55: John Ray Clemmons
State House of Representatives, District 56: Bob Freeman
State House of Representatives, District 58: Harold Love, Jr.
State House of Representatives, District 59: Caleb Hemmer
State House of Representatives, District 60: Darren Jernigan
State House of Representatives, District 67: Ronnie Glynn
State House of Representatives, District 80: Johnny Shaw
State House of Representatives, District 84: Joe Towns, Jr.
State House of Representatives, District 85: Jesse Chism
State House of Representatives, District 86: Barbara Cooper
State House of Representatives, District 87: Karen Camper
State House of Representatives, District 88: Larry Miller
State House of Representatives, District 90: Gloria Johnson
State House of Representatives, District 91: Torrey Harris
State House of Representatives, District 93: G.A. Hardaway
State House of Representatives, District 96: Dwayne Thompson
State House of Representatives. District 98: Antonio Parkinson
Here’s who the TSEA isn’t endorsing in the primaries
The House meets at the state Capitol in Nashville on June 1, 2020. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)
The Tennessee State Employees Association has announced its endorsements in legislative primaries around the state. The TSEA gave the nod to the 11 incumbents running for re-election in the Senate and 58 sitting members in the House.
The group endorsed former Rep. Page Walley in the Republican primary for the open Senate 26 seat against former Agriculture Commissioner Jai Templeton. It also gave the nod to former Rep. Scotty Campbell over National Guard Lt. Col. Neal Kerney in the GOP primary to succeed Rep. Timothy Hill (R-Blountville).
The list of members who did not receive a TSEA endorsement includes some prominent members like House Majority Leader William Lamberth, House Minority Leader Karen Camper, House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison, and Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ken Yager.
The TSEA said further endorsements will follow after the primary.
The early voting period for the Aug. 6 contests begins on Friday.
Here’s the full list of incumbents who didn’t get the TSEA endorsement (for the ones who did, click here):
SENATE:
- District 8: Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains)
- District 10: Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga)
- District 12: Ken Yager (R-Kingston)
HOUSE:
- District 1: John Crawford (R-Kingsport)
- District 5: David Hawk (R-Greeneville)
- District 9: Gary Hicks (R-Rogersville)
- District 10: Rick Eldridge (R-Morristown)
- District 11: Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby)
- District 12: Dale Carr (R-Sevierville)
- District 21: Lowell Russell (R-Vonore)
- District 26: Robin Smith (R-Hixson)
- District 28: Yusuf Hakeem (D-Chattanooga)
- District 29: Mike Carter (R-Ooltewah)
- District 33: John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge)
- District 39: Iris Rudder (R-Winchester)
- District 41: John Mark Windle (D-Livingston)
- District 44: William Lamberth (R-Portland)
- District 46: Clark Boyd (R-Lebanon)
- District 47: Rush Bricken (R-Tullahoma)
- District 50: Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville)
- District 51: Bill Beck (D-Nashville)
- District 53: Jason Powell (D-Nashville)
- District 55: John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville)
- District 58: Harold Love (D-Nashville)
- District 59: Jason Potts (D-Nashville)
- District 62: Pat Marsh (R-Shelbyville)
- District 68: Curtis Johnson (R-Clarksville)
- District 81: Debra Moody (R-Covington)
- District 87: Karen Camper (D-Memphis)
- District 89: Justin Lafferty (R-Knoxville)
- District 92: Rick Tillis (R-Lewisburg)
- District 94: Ron Gant (R-Rossville)
Deadline to register to vote in Aug. 6 primary is upon us
Image: Secretary of State’s office.
Tuesday is the deadline to register to vote for the Aug. 6 primary.
Registrations can be mailed or handed in to county election commissions or submitted online to through the Secretary of State’s website. Choosing the online route will make first-time voters ineligible to cast absentee ballots.
Early voting begins on July 17.
This year’s primary election includes a hard-fought contests for the Republican nominations to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Maryville) and U.S. Rep. Phil Roe (R-Johnson City). There’s also several open races and contested primaries for state House and Senate seats.
Maps show relative strengths of Democratic presidential candidates
Friend-of-the-blog Don Johnson is out with his latest maps breaking down last week’s Democratic presidential primary results. Have a look!
Knoxville:
Here's a map of last Tuesday's close result in Knox Co. Bernie did very poorly in TN's other major metro areas, but support around the UT Knoxville campus brought him within <1% of carrying the county.#GoVoteTN #ElectionTwitter pic.twitter.com/sT3xQIguUe
— Don Johnson (@htmldon) March 10, 2020
Shelby County:
Huge difference in Shelby Co. between votes cast early vs. election day. Bloomberg won early voting by 1%, Biden won E-day by 40 points.
Thanks @ShelbyVote for making this data available so quickly! pic.twitter.com/CCiZyR4c2x
— Don Johnson (@htmldon) March 7, 2020
Nashville:
Here is a precinct win map for the Dem Presidential Preference primary in Nashville-Davidson County. The Biden and Sanders coalitions lined up here pretty much as they did in other parts of the country. #ElectionTwitter #GoVoteTN pic.twitter.com/yZt8uHfsKJ
— Don Johnson (@htmldon) March 6, 2020
Keep ’em coming, Don!
Tuesday is last day of early voting in Tennessee
Image: Secretary of State’s office.
Early voting for Tennessee’s presidential primary ends on Tuesday.
About 199,000 people voted early through Saturday, down from 208,000 through the same period in 2016. There had been 29,228 fewer Republican ballots casts through the first 10 days, compared with an increase of nearly 20,000 Democratic ones. GOP voters still accounted for 55% of the early votes cast, but that was down from 66% in the 2016 primary.
Democrats have seen their biggest gains in Shelby County (+4,116 votes), Hamilton (+2,023), Williamson (+1,961), Davidson (1,808), and Knox (+1,417) counties.
Republican turnout has been most depressed in Davidson (-4,087), Knox (-3,907), Rutherford (-2,359), Shelby (-2,202), Monroe (-1,681), and Sumner (-1,459) counties.
Wilson County has had the highest increase in turnout compared with 2016, with 2,560 more voters casting ballots (1,423 Republicans and 1,083 Democrats). The next highest increases were in Shelby (+1,914), Washington (+1,766), Blount (+891), and Williamson (+783).
Tennessee’s Super Tuesday primary is on March 3.
Early voting up slightly compared with 2016
About 3,000 more early ballots were cast through the first four days of early voting in Tennessee compared with the same period in the 2016 presidential primary.
Republican voting was down by 3,456 votes, while Democratic voting jumped by 6,465 ballots. It’s not an entirely unexpected result given President Donald Trump isn’t facing serious opposition in the GOP primary. And even then, Republicans have accounted for 60% of the early ballots cast so far.
The biggest increase in Democratic primary votes has so far occurred in Shelby (+3,248), Knox (+1,490), Hamilton (+661) and Rutherford (+404) counties.
Shelby County also saw that largest increase in Republican voters with 1,314, followed by Washington (+707), Blount (+412), Knox (+391), and Wilson (+315) counties.
Davidson County saw the biggest drop in both Democratic (-1,602) and Republican (-1,564) votes. The next biggest GOP drops were in Rutherford (-883), Monroe (-743), and Sumner (-433) counties. Democrats’ next biggest losses were votes in Monroe (-192), White (-133) , and Stewart (-108) counties.
(95-county breakdown after the jump)
