TN comptroller, treasurer, secretary of state seeking new terms

The state’s three constitutional officers – Comptroller Justin Wilson, Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Treasurer David Lillard – are all planning to seek new terms in office when the Tennessee General Assembly votes to fill the positions in January, reports the News Sentinel.

Hargett and Lillard have been widely expected to go for new terms, though there has been some speculation that Wilson, 71, was considering retirement. But in an interview last week, the former cabinet member in Gov. Don Sundquist’s administration said he had decided to seek another two-year term, though it might be his last.

All three of the men, elected to office in 2009 when Republicans first gained a majority of seats in the state Legislature, are unlikely to face opposition. Under the state constitution, the comptroller and treasurer serve two-year terms; the secretary of state serves a four-year term.

Wilson, a longtime donor to Republican political causes, won his first term after some attention to donations of $36,500 he made to Republican legislators and PACs a year before Republican legislators elected him to the office. Wilson has stopped making direct donations to candidates, but has continued as a significant donor to Republican-oriented PACs.

On the other hand, Wilson says he has ceased making political contributions to either candidates or PACS involved in elections for federal office, having decided that as a state official the contests or Congress and the presidency are “none of my business.”