An Overview of Everything on the Nov. 6 Ballot

Judging by early voting totals — which, as of this writing, show a turnout three times larger than it was four years ago — many of you already have gone to the polls. But for those of you who haven’t yet or, God bless you, are trying to cram some knowledge before Election Day, we’re here to help. 

First of all, Election Day: It’s Tuesday, Nov. 6. 

The political tumult brought on by President Donald Trump has led to competitive statewide races in Tennessee for the first time in more than a decade. We break down those races, as well as down-ballot contests and the proposed Metro Charter amendments, below. 

U.S. Senate: Phil Bredesen (D) vs. Marsha Blackburn (R)

It’s been more than a decade since Tennessee Democrats were competitive in a U.S. Senate race, and 30 years since they’ve won such an election. But in this topsy-turvy political climate, all signs indicate that the race between Democrat Phil Bredesen and Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn is a tight one. 

Bredesen, a former Tennessee governor and Nashville mayor, is the last Democrat to have won a statewide race in Tennessee. But despite the capital D next to his name, he is arguably more similar to current Tennessee Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker than his Republican opponent is. A wealthy moderate who has frequently irked the more liberal corners of his own party — he slashed TennCare as governor and recently said he would have voted to confirm Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — Bredesen is pitching himself as a pragmatic figure who will put problem-solving ahead of party politics. He has harshly criticized the president’s approach to immigration enforcement, particularly the family-separation policy at the border, and has expressed strong opposition to proposed tariffs he says will harm Tennessee industries. Still, he has insisted throughout the campaign that he is “not running against Donald Trump.” In response to Blackburn’s attempts to frame him as a Democratic Party puppet, he has insisted that he would not vote to keep Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in that high-ranking role. 

Blackburn is a strident cable-news conservative of the tea party mold who has embraced the Trump presidency as tightly as just about any elected Republican. A former state senator who made her name in Tennessee during the income tax fight of the early 2000s, Blackburn has been in Congress since 2003. Over the past 15 years she has advocated for spending cuts, and during the Obama administration, she cast dozens of symbolic votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act. She has not shied away from the far-right elements of her party, or the conspiratorial elements of our politics — in 2012, she appeared on the internet’s leading conspiracy broadcast, The Alex Jones Show, and more recently she has stoked fear and baseless speculation about a group of Central American migrants traveling north toward the United States. 

Notably, Blackburn was one of the subjects of a joint exposé by 60 Minutes and The Washington Post about the effects of a bill she sponsored that weakened the DEA’s ability to block suspicious shipments of drugs. Sponsors of the bill claimed it was needed to make sure patients had access to pain medication, but critics and whistleblowers in the investigation have said the change contributed to an increase in opioid deaths. According to Open Secrets, Blackburn has received more than $800,000 from the pharmaceutical industry since 1991. 

Governor: Karl Dean (D) vs. Bill Lee (R)

Former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean faces Republican businessman Bill Lee in the race to succeed Gov. Bill Haslam. And where history is concerned, Dean has some things going for him: Tennessee’s past two governors were former mayors, and since 1971, Republicans and Democrats have traded eight-year stints in the governor’s mansion. Still, polls have consistently showed him trailing Lee, a successful businessman with no political experience. 

Dean and Lee have avoided pointed criticism of each other throughout the race, but one major area of disagreement has emerged — health care. 

Noting that there are close to 300,000 Tennesseans without insurance who could be covered if the state accepted federal funds to expand Medicaid, Dean has argued for, well, doing just that. Haslam actually proposed a version of that himself, but was thwarted by the right-wing state legislature. Dean has also argued that expanding Medicaid — which, he notes, Tennesseans are paying for in other states through their federal taxes — would stem the tide of rural hospital closures.  

Lee opposes broadening Medicaid — which he describes as “expanding a broken, flawed system” — and has cited his experience managing his business, watching the cost of health insurance go up in recent years. “Every Tennessean deserves to have access to quality health care that they can afford,” Lee says, but he’s been less clear about exactly what he would do to achieve that. 

The two also disagree on school vouchers, which Dean opposes. 

Although Lee largely avoided the Trump-like rhetoric of his Republican opponents during the primary, he was recently at the center of an ugly episode in which he appeared eager to use fear of Muslims to undermine his opponent. A state trooper was disciplined and removed from his assignment on the Dean campaign for allegedly giving information about Dean’s schedule to the Lee campaign. When the trooper shared that Dean would be at a Muslim community event, the Lee campaign reportedly said they would like to get pictures of Karl Dean coming out of a mosque.

Fifth Congressional District Race

Incumbent Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper is running against Republican Jody Ball in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District. Cooper has easily won re-election since he was first elected in 2002, and he’s expected to win once again.

State Legislative Races

In Nashville, state legislative races were already largely decided by the Democratic primaries. There were no Republicans running in Senate District 19, where Rep. Brenda Gilmore is the Democratic nominee to succeed Sen. Thelma Harper. In House District 54, Vincent Dixie won the Democratic primary and is virtually unopposed in the race to succeed Gilmore in the state House seat that represents parts of East and North Nashville. Elsewhere in Nashville, Democrats Rep. John Ray Clemmons, Rep. Harold Love, Rep. Darren Jernigan, Rep. Michael Stewart and Sen. Jeff Yarbro are all unopposed. 

There is a surprisingly competitive race in House District 56, a seat in the Green Hills area held by Republican Beth Harwell since 1988. In that race, Democrat Bob Freeman — son of Bill Freeman, who is a co-owner of the Scene — is facing Republican Brent Moody. Freeman, like his father, is in real estate, while Moody is a surgeon.  

Other races in Davidson County: House District 50: Democratic Rep. Bo Mitchell faces Republican Judd Cowan; House District 53: Democratic Rep. Jason Powell faces Republican Amberlee’ Brooks and independent David Dennison; House District 59: Democratic Rep. Jason Potts faces Republican David Birdsong; House District 51: Democratic Sen. Bill Beck faces independent Randell Stroud. 

Metro Charter Amendments

Davidson County voters will of course be greeted by a series of familiar names on the ballot this week: Phil Bredesen and Marsha Blackburn, Bill Lee and Karl Dean. Following those and selections for the state legislature, though, comes pages of semi-fine print, detailing six proposed amendments to the Metro Charter, Nashville’s governing document.

The first is the best-known. Amendment 1, the topic of last week’s Scene cover story  (“Policing the Police,” Oct. 25, 2018), would establish a community oversight board to investigate allegations of misconduct made against Metropolitan Nashville Police Department officers. Police officials and Mayor David Briley oppose the amendment, but a group of community activists and Metro Council members is pushing for its passage.

Here are the other charter amendments you’ll see on the ballot:

Amendment 2: This would add new language governing the mayoral line of succession if both the mayor and vice mayor are unable to serve. A situation of that nature is unlikely, but following then-Vice Mayor David Briley’s unexpected ascension to mayor earlier this year, Metro Councilmember Dave Rosenberg found the change necessary. If passed, the Metro Council would get the power to appoint a temporary mayor, should neither a vice mayor or mayor be able to perform the duties, with their appointment prohibited from running for the office.

Amendment 3: This amendment updates charter language about when special elections should take place. If a district seat on the Metro Council becomes vacant, a special election would be triggered if more than eight months is left in the term, instead of the current 12 months.

Amendment 4: Under this provision, Metro officers would be required to promise to uphold the Metro Charter in their oath of office.

Amendment 5: If this amendment passes, Metro Council term limits would increase from two four-year terms to three.

Amendment 6: This amendment would update the Metro Charter to use gender-neutral terms (“councilmember” instead of “councilman,” for example).