It’s hard to disrupt Tennessee’s history of giving its governors a second term in office. Since the state constitution was amended in 1978 to allow incumbents to run for a second consecutive four-year term, no governor has run for reelection and lost.
It’s also hard for Democrats to win statewide elections in Tennessee — something they haven’t done since 2006.
Still, three Democrats are trying to unseat Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who avoided a messy primary challenge and is on a fast track to reelection. In August, Tennessee Democrats will choose between Carnita Atwater, Jason Martin and JB Smiley Jr., who are vying for the right to take on Lee.
None is very well known. Just one (Smiley, a Memphis city councilmember) has held public office. Just one (Martin, a Nashville-based physician) has proven capable of raising very much money, though his totals still pale in comparison to Lee’s. They’re trying to do something that well-known, wealthy and experienced former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean did not even come close to accomplishing in 2018, when he ran as the Democratic nominee for governor and the mostly unknown political novice Lee beat him by 21 points.
At a debate late last month at Tennessee State University’s Avon Williams Campus, the three sought to draw distinctions among one another while struggling to articulate a path forward against Lee and supermajority Republicans. On the issues, the three largely agreed: Lee has done a terrible job, and the Republicans in the legislature are holding the state back. Particularly, the three argued, Lee and his fellow Republicans have failed Tennessee on education, health care and gun control.
Martin said the governor’s race “can absolutely be won.” Pulling off a victory would require “having a vision” and developing a policy platform that demonstrates to reliably Republican voters in smaller counties that “our agenda is their agenda.” The physician also said his trips to all 95 counties, and relationships made along the way, would help him engage a larger portion of the electorate and “chip away at the supermajority.”
Smiley argued that his charisma was necessary to win the race, saying that he was the only person among the three who could get voters excited and that the election needed “a different type of candidate to run a different type of campaign.” He also took a shot at Martin, who is not from Tennessee, by arguing that he did not need a 95-county tour to understand the state.
If elected, Atwater — a community activist from Memphis — said she would repeal a GOP law eliminating handgun carry permits “on day one,” though she did not explain exactly how she would accomplish that unilaterally. Also on day one, Atwater said, she would attack political and judicial corruption. If elected governor, Martin said he would use “the bully pulpit” to fight back against Republicans in the legislature, despite the state’s weak gubernatorial veto powers. Smiley, for his part, would eliminate no-bid contracts, he said, among other priorities.
Atwater lamented that an action plan aimed at mobilizing Democrats should have been launched a year ago, but said questionnaires, flyers and ads would be necessary for a successful bid to beat Lee and his built-in advantages.
“We have missed the mark,” she said.
State and federal primaries and Davidson County general elections are on the Aug. 4 ballot
