Wilder won’t seek re-election

Text of state Sen. John Wilder’s retirement announcement

NASHVILLE — Former Tennessee Lt. Gov. John Wilder’s formal announcement Thursday that he will not seek re-election leaves fellow Senate Democrats with another major seat to defend this year, officials said.

“We have work to do, but this has been a Democratic year nationwide, and I expect at the end of the day, it’ll be a Democratic year in Tennessee,” said Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle, of Memphis.

But Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, the man who in 2007 defeated Sen. Wilder’s bid for an unprecedented 18th term as Senate speaker, said Sen. Wilder’s 26th Senate District is “a Republican-leaning district.”

“I feel that our chances are good,” said Lt. Gov. Ramsey, who pointed out that Republican Bob Corker won the largely rural, eight-county district with 56 percent of the vote two years ago over Democrat Harold Ford Jr.

Earlier in the day, the 86-year-old Sen. Wilder made it official: After serving 44 years in the Senate including 36 years as Senate speaker, which carries the title of lieutenant governor, John Shelton Wilder, the cotton planter, banker and businessman from Mason, Tenn., was calling it quits.

“I love this state. I love the Senate,” he told colleagues. “It’s more a part of me than anything else I’ve done or known.”

A key figure in pushing for legislative independence, Sen. Wilder recalled how when he first arrived in the Senate in 1959, senators had no offices, secretaries or professional staff.

“But today we have staff; we have offices; we have committees; we’ve got rooms,” said Sen. Wilder, who became Senate speaker in 1971.

Sen. Wilder holds the record for serving as Senate speaker and lieutenant governor in Tennessee and, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, holds a modern-day record nationwide.

“All my life I’ve wanted to make a difference. I wanted to do what God wanted me to do, and I didn’t know exactly what that was,” Sen. Wilder said. “I’ve decided not to run for re-election.”

Sometimes enigmatic and a strong believer in a bipartisan governing style, Sen. Wilder as speaker could gravitate between benevolence and ruthlessness, colleagues and former colleagues said.

“He’d say to you, ‘I just want to let you know how I feel, but you always do what you think is right,’” said former Sen. Ray Albright, R-Chattanooga, who served in the Senate from 1971 to 1994.

But if it was a threat to Sen. Wilder’s power, “he could lay it to you,” Mr. Albright recalled.

Senate Democrats discovered that when they tried to overthrow him in 1987 and 1989. Sen. Wilder cobbled together a coalition of loyal Democrats and Republicans, kept control and exiled several powerful Democratic committee chairmen.

Former Sen. David Fowler, R-Signal Mountain, who came to the Senate in 1995, said Sen. Wilder kept the Senate “from becoming a partisan war zone and ... from becoming like Washington.”

Sen. Wilder “encouraged us to get to know one another. And even though you may disagree, when a person is your friend and colleague, you can be less disagreeable,” Mr. Fowler said, noting that it was those types of things Sen. Wilder had in mind when he talked about the need for the “Senate to be the Senate.”

Even when Republicans became the majority party in 2004, Sen. Wilder retained power for another two years, coaxing several Republicans to cross over and vote for him. But that ended last year when Lt. Gov. Ramsey was elected as speaker.

Friends say losing the speakership was a major blow to Sen. Wilder. But he maintained he would seek re-election, putting $500,000 of his own money into his campaign.

Earlier this year, he fell at his home and was hospitalized. But he quickly rebounded and when he later suffered from pneumonia soon bounced back.

In his announcement, Sen. Wilder said, “I want to encourage those of you who will stay here that you will vote your convictions. I never told anybody how to vote. Don’t let anybody vote you.”