NASHVILLE – When state Rep. Marc Gravitt announced this week plans to run for Hamilton County register of deeds, the East Ridge Republican became the latest Tennessee lawmaker to declare he won’t seek re-election to his current legislative job in 2018.
From House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, the chamber’s No. 1 leader now running for the GOP’s nomination for governor, to House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh of Ripley, who’s running to win Democrats’ gubernatorial nomination, 17 of Tennessee’s 132 state lawmakers have already made their intent clear some 15 months before the 2018 election.
That amounts to a potential 12.8 percent turnover of House and Senate seats.
Twelve representatives in the 99-member House, including Gravitt, have announced interest in running for other office, although at least two of their decisions depend on what happens to a top Senate leader’s presidential nomination for a West Tennessee federal judgeship.
Two others, Reps. Harry Brooks, R-Knoxville, and Joe Pitts, D-Clarksville, have simply said they’re retiring.