There seems to be general satisfaction with the service of the six state representatives and one state senator who will be on ballots in Hamilton County on Election Day, Nov. 2. Only one of the races is even contested.
The soundly conservative Republicans who are unchallenged in their bid for re-election are 11th District state Sen. Bo Watson, 26th District Rep. Gerald McCormick, 27th District Rep. Richard Floyd, 30th District Rep. Vince Dean and 31st District Rep. Jim Cobb. We recommend their re-election.
Unchallenged on the Democrat side is 29th District Rep. JoAnne Favors. Favors works hard and is well-intended, and we respect her. But she has a decidedly liberal point of view — such as her support for legalizing so-called “medical marijuana” — with which we disagree. For that reason, even though she is unopposed and thus guaranteed re-election, we do not endorse her.
That leaves the 28th District seat held by Democrat Rep. Tommie Brown. She is challenged by Republican Teresa Wood.
While Brown is engaging and conscientious, we do not believe her constituents are best served by her liberal record in the Tennessee General Assembly.
She has, for instance, opposed attempts to expand charter school eligibility in the state. Charter schools — public schools that are not encumbered by the bureaucratic rules that limit progress at traditional public schools — are not a “magic bullet,” it’s true. But many charter schools have been highly successful, and they provide one avenue of school choice for students who would otherwise be consigned to traditional public schools that are failing.
At the same time, while her challenger, Wood, of St. Elmo, espouses what appear to be reasonable small-government principles on her website, we have not seen evidence since the primaries that she is mounting a serious, vigorous campaign to unseat Brown.
For these reasons, we do not make any recommendation in the race for the 28th District House seat.
Overall, however, we believe that residents of Hamilton County will be well served by the lawmakers they send to the General Assembly in the upcoming election.