Skip to main content
Saturday, November 7, 2026Nov 7

This story is free to read.

Lawmaker calls for GOP to reconsider Durham leadership post

FILE - In this Feb. 2, 2015, file photo, state Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, speaks at a news conference at the legislative office complex in Nashville, Tenn., while Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, left, looks on. Voters in the home county of Durham, a top Republican in the state house, are receiving robocalls demanding his resignation. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 2, 2015, file photo, state Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, speaks at a news conference at the legislative office complex in Nashville, Tenn., while Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, left, looks on. Voters in the home county of Durham, a top Republican in the state house, are receiving robocalls demanding his resignation. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig, File) FILE - In this Feb. 2, 2015, file photo, state Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, speaks at a news conference at the legislative office complex in Nashville, Tenn., while Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, left, looks on. Voters in the home county of Durham, a top Republican in the state house, are receiving robocalls demanding his resignation. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig, File)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A House Republican has made a formal request to hold a caucus meeting to reconsider the leadership position of embattled Rep. Jeremy Durham.

Rep. David Alexander wrote a letter to the House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick to ask for a vote on Durham’s future as House whip. It takes five requests for the meeting to be called.

Durham’s leadership role has come under scrutiny following recent revelations that he wrote a character reference for a youth pastor convicted of child porn possession and statutory rape.

Prosecutors also sought charges against the lawmaker for altering the dates on two prescriptions, though a grand jury last year declined to indict him.

House Speaker Beth Harwell in a statement said she was “sorry this has been a distraction from the important business of the state.”