Ashe's insights: House race may include Knoxville's first black mayor; 3 women up for governor
City Councilman and former Mayor Daniel Brown leaves office in six months. There is speculation that he may run for state representative in the August 2018 Democratic primary against state Rep. Rick Staples.
Brown will have finished eight years on City Council and has always wanted to serve in the state House.
When former state Rep. Joe Armstrong was forced by his conviction to vacate the Democratic nomination, Staples was chosen by 16 people without a primary to be the new nominee. Rank and file Democratic voters as a group were locked out of the process.
Brown, who was Knoxville's first black mayor, might fare better where he has appeal directly to several thousand Democrats instead of fewer than 20 when he lost to Staples last year. Staples had previously lost the Democratic primary to Evelyn Gill for County Commission. Many feel Staples has not been truly tested among his fellow rank and file Democrats, which would occur if Brown entered the contest.
A Brown-Staples contest would be news and strongly contested.
It is interesting that the GOP has for the first time in Tennessee history three credible women running for governor. They are U.S. Rep. Diane Black, state House Speaker Beth Harwell and state Sen. Mae Beavers. Two men, Randy Boyd and Bill Lee, are actively seeking the position too. State Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris is a potential third male candidate but is also being considered for a federal judgeship in West Tennessee.
More:Victor Ashe: Political troubles beset House Speaker Beth Harwell
Two women who previously sought the Democratic nomination for governor are the late state Sen. Mary Anderson of Nashville and the late state Sen. Annabelle Clement O'Brien, who lived in Crossville. No woman has to date been a major party's nominee for governor. Jane Eskind, a Democrat, was the Democratic nominee for U.S. senator against Howard Baker in 1978, but she lost.
A few weeks ago, I attended the funeral services for Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski in Washington. Born in a free Poland, he was the national security adviser for President Jimmy Carter. Three former ambassadors to Poland were there. Besides this writer, they were Dan Fried and Steve Mull. Held at St. Mathews Cathedral in Washington, it was attended by Sen. Bob Corker and former Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Carter, who spoke along with Albright.
Brzezinski lived and worked in an era where bipartisanship was more the norm than the exception. In Poland, he was deeply revered. The current Polish foreign minister came from Warsaw to attend the service.
Lots of birthdays this week. State Rep. Jason Zachary is 40 tomorrow on June 29. Knoxville's youngest city councilman, Marshall Stair, turns 39 on June 30, and former state senator and Republican Senate leader Ben Atchley is 87 the same day. Stair is mentioned as a potential Knoxville mayoral candidate in 2019 along with former vice mayor Joe Bailey, council member George Wallace and businessman Eddie Mannis, who owns Prestige Cleaners. Another name being mentioned is State Rep. Eddie Smith and deputy to the mayor Christi Branscom.
Former Gov. Winfield Dunn turns 90 on July 1, while former city special events director Sue Clancy is 85 the same day. Former Knox County school board chair and current KCDC chair Dan Murphy also turns 62 on July 1. Dunn recently fractured his pelvis but is recovering well doing rehab.
He is Tennessee's oldest living former governor. Tennessee has four living former governors – the others are Lamar Alexander, Phil Bredesen and Don Sundquist. Each served eight years.
Former Knox County school board chair, Austin East football coach and city parks director Sam Anderson turns 64 on July 2. Sen. Lamar Alexander is 77 on July 3, and state Rep. Bill Dunn is 56 the same day. Bill Dunn was born in the Panama Canal Zone and is now chair of the powerful House Calendar Committee. He lives in Fountain City and is a strong pro-life advocate.