Tennessee Democrats want out of GOP plan to ax U.S. Senate primaries

photo Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden

NASHVILLE - The head of the state Democratic Party said today that Democrats want to be left out of a state Senate bill that would strip Tennessee primary voters' ability to determine who their party's U.S. Senate nominees are and give it over to 132 state lawmakers.

Democratic Party Chairman Roy Herron denounced the GOP-backed measure as "April foolishness of Republicans' attempting to steal the people's right to vote."

" I'm here to tell you that Tennessee Democrats don't want to be part of the Republicans' April Fool's joke," said Herron, a former state senator.

A bill scheduled for debate on the Senate floor this afternoon would end party primaries for U.S. Senate candidates. Instead, the 132 Republican and Democratic lawmakers would make the choices in their respective House and Senate party caucuses.

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