A stuffed orange envelope showed up at Scene headquarters in mid-February. On it was a printed label with no return address and four American flag Forever Stamps — perhaps the sender is inclined toward tradition, stability and long-term thinking.
Inside, a stapled dossier details disorder inside the Tennessee Democratic Party, split along generational lines. A Jan. 27 meeting of the state executive committee, the 72-person body that governs the state party, had devolved into name-calling, profanity-laden attacks and political threats, according to emails shared with the Scene.
At issue was whether to include the president of the Tennessee High School Democrats as an ex officio member of the committee, which includes positions for leaders of the Tennessee Young Democrats, Tennessee College Democrats, Tennessee Federation of Democratic Women, and Tennessee Democratic County Chairs Association.
“What we heard was shouting and insults if [Executive Committee] members didn’t vote their way,” reads an email signed by Randall Rice, a committee member from West Tennessee, sent in the early morning of Jan. 29 to his fellow members. “It seems there is a serious division in the [Executive Committee] that pits one group against another. What we didn’t hear was any calm, reasoned debate about the issue posed. We also heard no consideration that persons may hold different opinions that are valid.”
Tennessee Democratic Party chair Hendrell Remus
When contacted, Rice tells the Scene he will not discuss internal party matters with the media.
Rice, state party chair Hendrell Remus and several other committee members swapped meeting interpretations in an email thread that CC’d the entire committee. Conversation quickly turned to the relative advantages of rules-based order versus emotional appeals that stray from decorum.
“Maybe we should be bringing bullhorns. Worked for these 3,” reads an email signed by Jeff Clark dated Jan. 30. He embedded an image of Democratic state Reps. Justin Jones, Justin J. Pearson and Gloria Johnson. “I don’t think sacrificing yourself on the altar of decorum is going to win us anymore votes than it has for the last 20 years.”
Vocal and defiant resistance by Jones, Pearson and Johnson in the Republican-controlled state House has become a symbol in itself for Tennessee Democrats, whose lawmaking power has been severely diminished by the state’s Republican supermajority over the past decade. Members referenced the three frequently throughout their short-lived email debrief.
Chair Remus suspended listserv communications on Feb. 1. He encouraged members to communicate directly rather than in reply-all threads until the party identifies “a different method of mass communication for the Executive Committee.”
Farrah Renfroe, the committee’s recently added 73rd member, came to the Democratic Party as a fifth-grader politicized by the 2016 presidential election. Now a high school senior in Memphis, Renfroe leads the Tennessee High School Democrats.
“We hear the older people out all the time — we try to be as respectful as possible because we want to learn as much as possible,” Renfroe tells the Scene about the meeting. “I personally was expecting them to hear us out a bit more. We are the ones who always show up to volunteer and work at these campaigns.”
Without a voting history, high school students can’t technically pass the party’s executive committee “bona fide” test, a stipulation enshrined in state law. Rice and others justified their “no” votes with this legal hitch. A statewide memo from Jordan Wilkins, head of the Tennessee Democratic County Chairs Association, confirmed that the party had sought a legal opinion. Wilkins also included a scanned roll call vote showing every member’s position on the issue, which passed 40-15 (with one abstention, 14 absent and two vacant positions), allowing Renfroe to join the committee.
Correction: A previous version of this story listed the total current number of executive committee members as 78 rather than 73. We apologize for the error.
