Todd Gardenhire, right, speaks at Valley View Elementary School. Also pictured is Valley View principal Sherrie Ledford.AT A GLANCE* Name: Todd Gardenhire* Age: 64* Family: Married, with three adult children* Education: Bachelor’s degree in business administration from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga* Current job: Financial adviser for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney* One big idea: Technical school for inner-city children in downtown Chattanooga
Faced with apathetic donors and mounting campaign debt, 44-year-old Todd Gardenhire stopped his 3rd Congressional District candidacy six weeks before the 1992 Republican primary.
“I’m not out beating the bushes to be an elected official,” Gardenhire told The Chattanooga Times then. He said it was probably his final run for public office.
“Probably” was a fateful hedge. Two decades, two wives and several family crises later, the financial adviser who has made $759,510 in the last three years wanted a victory beyond money. So the longtime conservative activist plunged into an old passion, edging businessman Greg Vital in a dogfight state Senate primary.
Recalling his 40-vote margin of victory, Gardenhire folded an index finger into the crook of his hand and said, “My you-know-what was about this tight during the primary.”