Big fight, huge expenditures in Tennessee gubernatorial primary dominate Thursday elections

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NASHVILLE - Tennessee political hopefuls are charging, sometimes through mud, towards the finish line in Thursday's election in which voters will choose Republican and Democratic nominees in primary races for state and federal office, as well as county-level general election contests.

It's the first time in 16 years that both the governor's mansion and a U.S. Senate seat have been up for grabs at the same time.

photo Gov. Bill Haslam gives the commencement address during Chattanooga State Technical Community College's Tennessee College of Applied Technology commencement ceremony at Abba's House on Friday, July 27, 2018, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Many of TCAT's graduates are part of Gov. Haslam's Drive to 55 initiative, which aims to increase the number of Tennesseeans with post-secondary educations to 55 percent by 2025.
That's due to the term-limited Republican Gov. Bill Haslam being unable to run while Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Chattanooga is headed for the exit door after serving two terms.

With the gubernatorial primaries packed with free-spending millionaires, the four major Republican and two Democratic candidates have now run through a record-busting $51 million in spending for their respective primaries. That was fueled by $40.2 million in personal funds, including contributions and self-endorsed loans.

photo U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn introduces Vice President Mike Pence at a tax policy event Saturday in Cleveland. Pence also spoke at a fundraiser for Blackburn later that day in Chattanooga.
Meanwhile, Republican Marsha Blackburn, a Brentwood congresswoman, and former governor Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, are running for their respective party nominations against lesser known candidates, although Bredesen rival John Wolfe of Chattanooga, a perennial candidate, is fairly well known locally.
photo Former Governor and senate candidate Phil Bredesen meets with the Times Free Press editorial board in the newsroom on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Although Bredesen and Blackburn are already clashing personally and through surrogates - no less than President Donald Trump has denounced Bredesen - their real race is in the fall general election.

It's a banner year, given that three of the state's nine congressmen are retiring - two of them are running for governor and U.S. Senate - and there's an exodus of 23 state House representatives, including four from Hamilton and Bradley counties alone, as well as three departing state senators from the General Assembly.

That's reflected in the record number of well over half a million Tennesseans who already cast their ballot by the close of business Friday. According to the Tennessee Secretary of State's office, 569,877 voters had cast early or absentee ballots. Statewide, 364,676 persons had cast ballots in the Republican primary while 188,568 voted in the Democratic primary.

In Hamilton County, a total of 19,111 people had voted early or by absentee. Of that, 10,915 voted in the Republican primary while 8,104 voted in the Democratic primary. Early voting continued through Saturday.

Early voting is expected to account for 50 percent or more of all ballots cast in the Aug. 2 election. It runs through Saturday.

The sheer spending in the governor's race has observers whistling in amazement.

"I think there's been more money spent in the governor's race than any election in Tennessee history," said Kent Syler, an assistant professor of political science at Middle Tennessee State University.

Syler thinks the barrage of television and radio ads, as well as direct mail and tight contests, are generating voter interest and likely to boost total turnout.

Leading Republican candidates for governor, according to polling, are U.S. Rep. Diane Black of Gallatin, Knoxville entrepreneur and former state economic commissioner Randy Boyd, state House Speaker Beth Harwell of Nashville, and Williamson County businessman Bill Lee.

Boyd alone has given nearly $20 million to his campaign, while Black has injected $12.3 million. Harwell has put $3.1 million into her effort while Lee's personal tab stands at $5.3 million.

On the Democratic side are former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and state House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh of Ripley. Dean has put up $750,000 in personal funds while Fitzhugh has loaned his campaign a similar amount.

GOP gubernatorial primary

In a Republican primary where all the candidates have pledged fealty to Trump, both Boyd and Black have bashed each other with a barrage of television, radio and direct mail attacks accusing one another of being soft on illegal immigration and more.

Black began the fight with a dual-edge negative television ad accusing Boyd and Lee of being too "moderate." Boyd has slammed Black in his own TV spot as "D.C. Diane," portraying her as a mucky denizen of what Trump has labeled the Washington "swamp."

Realizing that Lee's standing was on the rise, Black and Boyd then began attacking Lee. So Lee, whose ads have portrayed him as a devout Christian and the only "conservative outsider," came back with his own ad. He decried "all these dishonest ads" while simultaneously working in subtle digs that his rivals' ads reveal "deceitful" politicians who will "do anything to get elected."

The only GOP primary candidate who has yet to be really attacked is Harwell, who has been running in fourth place. She went up with her own TV spot using a trio of quarreling and finger-pointing children to portray Black, Boyd and Lee. At the end, Harwell is shown calming the children down by reading to them.

Her most recent ad touts her support of physician-prescribed medical marijuana, setting her apart from the rest of the GOP field.

While Trump has spoken favorably of Black enough times to allow Black to feature the statements in her ads, the president hasn't come through with an outright endorsement. But Vice President Mike Pence, who served with Black in Congress and early on gave $4,000 to her campaign, did come through Friday with a Twitter endorsement.

So how will this GOP primary go Thursday?

"This thing's got me completely perplexed," confessed Steve Gill, a former conservative talk radio show host and two-time candidate for Congress who now is political editor at the Tennessee Star, a hard-right news website.

Gill bemoaned the lack of recent "good polls" showing who is ahead in the GOP contest. And he also questioned how, after all the bashing in the GOP primary, GOP leaders and the primary winner will bring everyone "back together" following a situation in which the top candidate may have won with just 30 percent or so of the vote.

Unlike states like Georgia, winning candidates in a Tennessee state or federal race simply need to win a plurality of votes in an election and not a majority.

The Democratic gubernatorial field

Dean and Fitzhugh have been far less combative, although Fitzhugh has thrown some punches, questioning Dean's use of federal flood relief funds to help with a Nashville waterfront project, which Dean in turn counters as misrepresentative of what actually happened.

The former Nashville mayor's television ads have been positive, seeking to frame himself as a nonpartisan problem-solver for all Tennesseans. Mayoral contests are not partisan.

Fitzhugh hasn't hit television in a large way but says his experience in the General Assembly and fighting on behalf of Medicaid expansion and other issues makes him best suited.

Congressional primaries

Republican U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Ooltewah has GOP opposition in his 3rd Congressional District primary from Jeremy Massengale, Harold E. Shevlin and William E. Spurlock Sr. But the contest has not been seen as especially competitive by observers.

Running unopposed in the Democratic primary is Chattanooga physician Danielle Mitchell.

Over in the adjoining 4th Congressional District, incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais of South Pittsburg is opposed by Jack Maddux of Cleveland, a former Chattanooga police officer.

Candidates in the Democratic primary are Christopher Hale, Mariah Phillips and Steven Reynolds, all of Murfreesboro.

The state has three open contests in the 2nd (Knoxville), 6th (Gallatin) and 7th (Franklin/Clarksville) Congressional Districts. Knoxville Republican U.S. Rep. John Duncan's retirement has spurred a feisty GOP primary. The same goes for the 6th District, where Black's bid for governor has opened up a hard-fought GOP primary contest.

Blackburn's decision to give up her safe seat in the 7th District to run for Senate has opened up that seat, leaving a lone Republican candidate, state Sen. Mark Green of Clarksville, and two Democrats vying for their party's nomination.

Legislative contests

Retirements of state Reps. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga; JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga; Marc Gravitt of East Ridge, and Kevin Brooks, R-Cleveland, have released pent-up ambitions in all four districts.

Gravitt's District 30 seat is generating a spirited GOP primary between Esther Helton of East Ridge and Jonathan Mason of Chattanooga. The winner will face Democrat Joda Thongnopnua of East Ridge in November.

Favors' departure in District 28 has resulted in a five-person Democratic primary in Chattanooga with Dennis Clark, Yusuf Hakeem, Melody Shekari, Jackie Thomas and Brandon Woodruff running. The primary winner will face Republican Lemon Williams Jr. in November.

The District 26 race to replace McCormick has taken on a legal twist. McCormick had qualified to run for re-election but later announced he planned to resign from his seat in October to take a full-time job in Nashville.

Former Tennessee Party Chairman Robin Smith of Hixson qualified to replace him. But state Democrats are contesting her ability to do that in a lawsuit. Their aim is to bounce Smith off the ballot. David Jones is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Over in the District 24 contest to replace Brooks, Republicans Israel Farless, Mark Hall and Garry Moore, all of Cleveland, and Alan Ledford of McDonald are competing in the GOP primary. The winner will face Democrat Mallory Pickert of Cleveland in the fall.

Hamilton County contests

This is the general election for county candidates. Among the races are:

* Mayor: Republican incumbent Jim Coppinger and Democrat Aloyse Brown

* Commission District 2: Republican Chip Baker and Democrat Elizabeth Baker

* Commission District 3: Republican incumbent Greg Martin and Democrat Rosabelle Gorman

* Commission District 4: Democratic incumbent Warren Mackey and independent Chris Dahl

* Commission District 6: Republican incumbent Joe Graham and Democrat David Sharpe

* Sheriff: Republican incumbent Jim Hammond and Democrat Victor Miller

* Register of Deeds: Republican Marc Gravitt and Democrat Vickie Schroyer

Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.

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