(C) Tennessee Lookout
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Editor's notebook: Retirements, resignations of moderate Republicans bode ill for all Tennesseans – Tennessee Lookout [1]
['More From Author', 'December', 'J. Holly Mccall']
Date: 2023-12-15
(Editor’s note: Tennessee Lookout Editor Holly McCall and Rep. Sam Whitson ran against each other in 2016 for the state legislature, with Whitson winning.)
The announcement Thursday that Franklin Republican Sam Whitson will not seek reelection to the legislature is only the latest in a slew of statehouse retirements and resignations that have come over the last few years, and his is certain not to be the last.
Whitson is what has become a dying breed: a moderate Republican. To be sure, he voted the House Republican party line way more often than not, maybe even most of the time. Even so, he could be counted on to stand up for public education — an increasingly rare stance among Tennessee Republicans — and voted against Gov. Bill Lee’s 2019 private school voucher plan.
He has been supportive of services for people with special needs and sponsored legislation known as the Katie Beckett Waiver, which provides healthcare for children with significant disabilities or complex health needs whose parents don’t qualify for Medicaid.
That lawmakers are leaving after a few terms isn’t a concern, in and of itself. That many are leaving — particularly moderate Republicans — because they feel like strangers in their party or because of legislative hostility, is troubling, as it leaves Tennesseans with the farthest right right-wingers.
Elected in 2016, Whitson is the definition of a citizen lawmaker. He made what was a controversial decision in some Republican circles to enter a GOP primary against a sitting lawmaker: Rep. Jeremy Durham, who was ultimately expelled after a lengthy investigation by the Tennessee Attorney General’s office verified Durham’s extensive record of sexual harassment.
That Whitson is leaving after four terms isn’t in itself negative. America’s founders envisioned a Congress of citizen lawmakers who would serve their country on a part-time basis. It is a fine thing to see legislators voluntarily step down after a few terms instead of hanging onto their seats in office by any means necessary, less to enact helpful legislation than to keep a grip on power.
The “why” he’s leaving is a concern.
Whitson told Lookout reporter Sam Stockard he’s seen the legislature become “a lot more contentious” since he began and that he’s “not looking forward to next session.”
Last year, 14 lawmakers chose not to run for reelection, 11 from the House side and three from the Senate. A couple, like federally indicted former House Speaker Glen Casada and former Sen. Brian Kelsey, who has pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance charges, left with clouds over their heads.
But others left because they were tired. Sick of it. Found gigs that were easily more comfortable than dealing with endless acrimony and partisan hijinks.
When Mike Bell stepped down from the Senate midterm in 2022, his colleague, Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, said “The Mike Bell that stands here today is a shell of the man that came here.”
Democratic Sen. Jeff Yarbro of Nashville said, “Mike Bell is wrong about almost everything. But he is a fine senator, a good man, and he is a friend of mine.”
Indeed, one could take plenty of issue with Bell’s policies, but he was replaced by Adam Lowe, whose largest contribution in his first term has been to be caught on a hot mic during spring’s contentious session following the Covenant School shooting saying gun protests “got all the attractive moms in Nashville to come to the Capitol.”
Former Republican lawmaker Bob Ramsey — who also considered himself a moderate — was defeated by Bryan Richey in 2022 after supporters of charter schools and vouchers spent nearly $100,000 to besmirch Ramsey’s reputation. Richey’s claim to fame is his motion to adjourn the legislature on the first day of the August special session convened ostensibly to take up gun-safety measures.
Not to damn Lowe and Richey with faint praise, but they could be worse. Rumored to be considering a run for the House District 65 seat to be vacated by Whitson is Michelle Foreman, who lost to Rep. Caleb Hemmer, D-Nashville, in 2022. Most recently, Foreman was ordered to pay $100,000 to a former Metro Nashville Council member she unsuccessfully sued in order to deter her from continuing to file lawsuits designed to chill public participation — primarily from her detractors.
Foreman also opposed calls to remove a bust of slave-trader, Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, from the Capitol. A member of the Tennessee Republican Executive Committee, she has advocated for closed primaries and considers any Republican who supports keeping Tennessee’s primaries open to be a Republican in Name Only, or RINO. A COVID-denier, she is a strong advocate of “school choice”— a euphemism for private school vouchers and charter schools that strip money from public education.
In other words, based on the direction of Tennessee Republicans, she could stand a good chance of winning.
One doesn’t need to be a Democrat — or even like the Republican Party — to realize that all Tennesseans benefit from having thoughtful lawmakers, not reactionaries who dance to the tune played by the right-wing loon side of the Republican Party.
And while Democrats are often criticized for not crossing over to vote for “better” Republicans, as was the case in the 2022 House District 5 race, in which now-U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles beat moderate Republicans like former House Speaker Beth Harwell, fixing the Republican Party isn’t up to Democrats.
Until Tennessee has state GOP leaders and members of the Republican National Committee decide to step in and use their power to reel their party back to the days of good ole fiscal conservatism and away from wild culture issue politics, we can expect more Whitsons and Bells to retire.
Eventually, that won’t be good for any of us. Including Republicans.
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