Nashville: Naifeh intends to battle Mumpower for speaker post

NASHVILLE — Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh said Wednesday he will fight to keep the speakership in January despite his party having narrowly lost the majority to Republicans in last week’s election.

“I sure am,” said Speaker Naifeh, a Covington lawmaker whose 18-year tenure makes him the longest-serving House speaker in Tennessee history.

Asked if he expected to win against the GOP’s 50-49 majority, the 68-year-old lawmaker said “well, I’m running again.”

Speaker Naifeh, who ruled out running for minority leader, said that in order to win he will “need a couple of votes. I’m just talking to some of the members. A lot of them have said that we don’t have all 49 Democrats, and we do. We are united.”

The powerful speaker, who has to persuade one or more Republicans to join him, suffered one blow on Tuesday when all 50 Republicans on Tuesday pledged in writing to vote for a Republican speaker. Current Republican Leader Jason Mumpower of Bristol is the only candidate and has said he expects to be elected speaker.

But Speaker Naifeh said, “there’s a lot of time between now and Jan. 13 — that’s two months. A lot of things can happen in that period of time. And I’m just staying positive about it ... I am trying to get the votes right now. Every day I’m trying.”

Rep. Naifeh said if he fails to win the House’s top post, he would not resign from the House, a persistent rumor in GOP circles.

Rep. Tommie Brown, D-Chattanooga, said, “I stand with the leadership here, and I’ll be standing firm” for a Naifeh bid.