When Tennessee voters put pen to paper this mid-term election cycle, the first race we’ll see on the ballot will be that of governor.
That doesn’t mean this is the most important race or the one with the most impact on our lives. As a matter of fact, our ballots will show us two contested races (it would have been three, but Republican state Rep. Patsy Hazlewood’s independent challenger suspended his campaign on Aug. 1) that have more impact on our day-to-day lives than will any Tennessee governor.
But there’s more to be said. The red state of Tennessee doesn’t know many of the Democratic candidates, and many voters will mark the GOP circle simply because the Republicans are the incumbents — albeit in our view not good ones.
More than one poll shows our incumbent governor will be a landslide winner. And the independent Cook Political Report’s Partisan Voter Index for the 3rd Congressional District shows it is the 49th most Republican district nationally. What’s more, Tennessee’s General Assembly has been a supermajority GOP body for years.