With Bredesen, it will be a race
Former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen added Democratic heft to the 2018 Tennessee Senate race Thursday morning when he officially launched his bid for the soon-to-be-empty seat of Bob Corker.
Bredesen, a political moderate and fiscal conservative who recently turned 74, was the last Democrat to win a statewide election in Tennessee. He won all 95 counties in 2006 in his re-election as governor.
Also seeking the Democratic nomination is James Mackler, a straight-talking Iraq War veteran and Nashville attorney with Chattanooga ties. Mackler, though very smart and personable, likely lacks the name recognition and political credentials to win the primary against Bredesen, a former two-term governor, former Nashville mayor and self-made millionaire with lots of expertise in the health industry.
Bredesen also is the most likely of just about any possible Democrat candidate to be able to beat the Republican front-runner, Tennessee’s U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Brentwood.