NASHVILLE – Tennessee House Democrats made history Sunday by electing a black lawmaker as their new leader in the Republican-dominated chamber.
Rep. Karen Camper of Memphis was elected leader on the second ballot in the three-person contest, winning a majority of the 24 representatives present at the 26-member minority caucus’s meeting.
Speaking before the vote, the 60-year-old U.S. Army veteran recalled Democrats’ glory days when they were in charge of the House, saying she wanted to lead them back to the times when they had “an aggressive agenda and we were fighting for that agenda day and night.”
“I want to get a team together to help us do that so that we can move our agenda forward for the things that we want for our caucus and things we want for our state,” Camper said.
She defeated Rep. Johnny Shaw of Boliver, who also is black, and Rep. Bo Mitchell of Nashville. Shaw, who had the fewest votes, fell off after the first ballot. Camper went on to defeat Mitchell.