Election Guide: Tennessee Senate

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The Tennessee General Assembly's upper house has its elections every two years, just like the House of Representatives, but the difference is that about half of the Senate's thirty-three seats are elected each time around, and a Senate term is four years instead of two. This year, it's the even-numbered districts' turn to vote. In Chattanooga, that means District 10. (Here's a map.)

For years, one man dominated this district (indeed, it was reportedly custom-drawn for him): Ward Crutchfield. The former Senate Majority Leader whose political power seemed unmatched in these environs, and his arrest in May 2005 on federal bribery charges was among the most shocking on the "Operation Tennessee Waltz" list. (First prize has to go to baby-faced former Rep. Chris Newton, though.) Last year, after Crutchfield at long last admitted his guilt, a special election drew a pair of Stanford University graduates whose genuine like for each other resulted in one of the least acrimonious campaigns witnessed in a while (on the local level, that is; readers will remember the respective state parties' attempts to play up the negatives). Democrat Andy Berke prevailed over Republican Oscar Brock, and so it is Senator Berke who heads into the regular season unchallenged in his primary. While Brock has decided to forgo a rematch, two of the Republican candidates that he dispatched last year are back — and though each therefore faces considerably better odds in this round than he had before, neither stands a chance of defeating Berke. They are, for the record, Oscar Brown and Basil Marceaux Sr. The former is a past chairman of the Marion County Republican Party, and the latter has run for, I believe, every open office that covers his precinct, from Soddy-Daisy Commissioner to Governor of Tennessee, for some time now. (Not that it would likely matter in the general outcome, but whither Travis Layne?) If you're a visiting reader from elsewhere in Tennessee (or just a political junkie like me), here are a few more state Senate races of note: District 14, where interim Senator Steve Roller, who replaced Jerry Cooper after the latter's downfall, is backed into a corner by baying packs of both parties; District 8, where incumbent Republican House of Representatives member Doug Overbey stepped down (or is it up?) to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Raymond Finney in what I like to call the Great Smoky Mountain standoff; District 22, where Sen. Rosalind Kurita is hunted by vengeful fellow Democrats after her vote that handed the Speaker's gavel to Republican Ron Ramsey; and District 4, where the Legislature's only independent member, Sen. Mike Williams, is hunted by vengeful Republicans due to his defection.