Former Tenn. Gov. Phil Bredesen Mulls Senate Run

NASHVILLE, TN — The race for Tennessee Senate may get a little more interesting, as former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said in a statement Monday he is going to consider running, despite earlier statements to the contrary.

Bredesen, the last Democrat elected to statewide office in Tennessee, is a former two-term governor and mayor of Metro Nashville. Bredesen eked out a victory for the governorship by 3 points in 2002, but was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2006 with nearly 69 percent of the vote, sweeping all 95 counties and winning more than 1.2 million votes, the most for any gubernatorial candidate in the state's history.

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Because of his popularity and electoral success — rarities for Democrats in Tennessee — there was speculation he would run for the U.S. Senate following Bob Corker's surprise announcement that he will not seek re-election in 2018. Bredesen, 73, shot the idea down at first but now says he is reconsidering.

"A number of people for whom I have great respect have encouraged me to reconsider and I am doing so," Bredesen said in a statement. "In the days ahead, I'm going to do some research, talk with people and carefully think this through."

Bredesen noted that the race will likely be considerably expensive, though the former health-care executive does have substantial personal wealth. He did not put a hard timetable on his decision, but said it would come "quickly."

The front-runner on the Republican side is U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a conservative stalwart and prominent supporter of President Donald Trump. The only Democrat officially in the race is political rookie James Mackler, a Nashville attorney.

The centrist Bredesen has never made a formal foray into national politics, though he was considered an outside possibility to be Barack Obama's running mate in 2008 and was reportedly on the shortlist to be Obama's Health and Human Services Secretary. During his tenure as governor, he oversaw significant budget cuts — 9 percent across the board in his first year — and then turned his focus to improving Tennessee's education and economic development.

He was in office when the state enacted a lottery with money earmarked for college scholarships and pre-K programs and when corporations like Nissan relocated headquarters to the Volunteer State. That followed a stint as Nashville mayor, which included the relocation of the Houston Oilers to become the Tennessee Titans and the construction of what is now Bridgestone Arena, which led to the NHL awarding the Nashville Predators to the Music City.

Politically, the New York-born Bredesen's first mayoral victory in 1991 is regarded as the end of the dominance of the East Nashville political juggernaut which controlled Davidson County politics for decades. Bredesen began a streak of Nashville mayors — Philadelphia-born Bill Purcell, South Dakota-born Karl Dean and Kansas City-born Megan Berry — who were not originally from Davidson County.

Photo via State of Tennessee