Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington, bangs the gavel to open the 2008 session in Nashville in this file photo.NASHVILLE – Friends of Democratic House Speaker Emeritus Jimmy Naifeh say they expect the 72-year-old lawmaker from Covington to announce today he won’t seek re-election to the House seat he first won in 1974.
Naifeh served as speaker from 1991 to 2009 – becoming the longest-serving House speaker in Tennessee history.
In 2008 elections, Republicans gained their first 50-49 majority since Reconstruction. GOP lawmakers planned to elected Republican Jason Mumpower speaker.
But unable to secure a single GOP vote for himself, Naifeh and fellow Democrats turned the tables with all 49 Democrats joining together to elect a new speaker of their choice, Rep. Kent Williams, R-Elizabethton, who voted for himself. The GOP later threw Williams out of the party and he is now an independent.
Republicans in 2010 elections, however, won a 64-member majority in 2010.