A look at the numbers on the first day of early voting in Nashville

According to the list I received from the Davidson County Election Commission, 469 people voted on Friday. It looks as if there may be one duplicate on the list, so maybe it was 468. I don't have the statistics from the first day four years ago, but the number was higher than I expected.

Republican Surge?: Judging from the campaign signs posted at the Election Commission, a crowded 5th district Republican congressional primary and the three-man horse race for the Republican nomination for governor must account for the numbers. About 45% of those voting on the first day pulled a Republican primary ballot. It should be noted that Friday's Jackson Day celebration may have kept many Democrats from voting after work.

GLBT Factor: Just over 2% of those voting on Friday are part of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. (The number could be higher. I don't know every GLBT person in Nashville, folks!) After voting (or before voting for those who were heading to the Election Commission on Saturday), the TEP Nashville Committee held our Vote + Happy Hour event at 3rd and Lindsley. You can find some of the pictures here.

Rutherford County Contrast: Despite being higher than I expected, the Nashville numbers are still low. Rutherford County provides a contrast where 1001 people voted on the first day, according to the Daily News Journal. But they had six locations and Davidson County only had one. 698 voted in the Republican primary in the Rutherford County with only 286 in the Democratic. Again, I think we can attribute those numbers to a crowded Republican field in the 6th district congressional race as well as the governor's race.

Voting on Saturday: Maybe the second day totals will be stronger in Nashville, despite the rather limited Saturday hours. One indication was the large crowd of volunteers for Jeff Yarbro's district 21 State Senate campaign who were gathered at the Election Commission Saturday morning to vote and then canvass neighborhoods. Stay tuned for more updates as the numbers come in over the next few days.

Voting for Equality in Shelby County on August 5 (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this series, I reviewed the known positions on LGBT equality and campaign outreach to equality voters of candidates for Shelby County government. Part 2 is devoted to Primaries for the Tennessee House of Representatives and Governor.

TENNESSEE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The Grand Prize for the Democratic and Republican Parties in Tennessee in this election year is the House of Representatives. The Senate will likely remain in Republican control in 2010. In the 2008 election, the Republicans won a one-seat majority that gave them control of the House of Representatives. The Republican leadership of the House thought their day had finally arrived. However, 49 Democrats voted for Republican Kent Williams of East Tennessee as Speaker of the House in exchange for a power sharing arrangement on House committee assignments. The surprise election of Williams upset the Republican House leadership.

The stakes are even higher in 2010. The 2011-2012 General Assembly will use the results of the 2010 U.S. Census to reapportion election districts for U.S. Congress, the State House and the State Senate. If you are a Democrat, there is a real concern that districts redrawn by a Republican controlled House and Senate will reduce the number of districts that elect Democrats in the State House, State Senate and U.S. Congress for an entire generation.

My read on either side of the partisan aisle is that most of the incumbent House Representatives and Senators from Shelby County are in relatively safe districts without primary opponents. I'll limit my comments to a few exceptions in Democratic Primaries.

House District 85

Johnnie Turner (D). Turner was appointed to replace her husband Larry Turner after his death by the Shelby County Commission. Both have been friends to the LGBTQ community. When Johnnie Turner served as the Executive Director of the Memphis office of the NAACP, she spoke in favor of the Shelby County Employment Non-Discrimination Ordinance mentioned above. The LGBT policy positions of her fellow Democratic opponents, Edgar A. Babian and Eddie Jones, are not known.

House District 87

Incumbent Karen Camper (D) is an equality advocate who co-sponsored a house bill that would add gender identity to Tennessee's hate crime law. The views on LGBTQ policy of opponent Justin Settles are not known.

TENNESSEE GOVERNOR

The Republican primary for governor includes 5 candidates, three of them are competitive. Check out their views on adoption of children by gay and lesbian couples.

Congressman Zach Wamp (R) has served 8 terms from Tennessee's Third District (Chattanooga, East TN). In those 8 terms, Wamp has earned a consistent 0% rating on the HRC Score Card. Wamp is also a member of The Family, the fundamentalist organization that helped set up the proposed Ugandan death-penalty for gays law. Wamp has little to offer LGBT equality voters.

Senator Ron Ramsey (R) is currently Tennessee Lt. Governor and leader of the Senate. In 2006, he supported the anti-marriage amendment that was approved in 2006 and prohibits recognition of civil marriage of gay or lesbian couples.

Bill Haslam (R), Mayor of Knoxville, appears to be the most moderate of his peers. Haslam has not publicly supported or opposed any LGBT legislation, but he did offer the following response to the fatal shooting at the LGBT-friendly Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville:

It is often easy to make these tragic events, which are far too frequent, about the community in which they occur. Knoxville is a caring, compassionate city where diverse viewpoints are shared and respected. Every person, regardless of race, religion, age, sex, or sexual orientation is a person of human dignity and a valued member of our community.

Democrat Mike McWherter has no opposition in the primary, but be sure to note his responses on the adoption issue. When he was first asked about the issue, McWherter said he opposed adoption by gay couples, but he later changed his position to say:

My personal preference is to see children placed in the care of loving, traditional families, but I do respect our current system that allows for judges and other authorities to make the final determination on what’s in the best interest of a child.

Do you have any additional information about the LGBT policy positions of any of the above candidates? If so, please share in the comments. We can’t vote for equality if we don’t have all the facts.

Part 3 of Voting for Equality in Shelby County will cover the races for the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Congressional Districts.

- Jonathan Cole

Closeting the gay factor in the GOP gubernatorial race

According to Hayes Hickman in the Knoxville News Sentinel, all the Republican candidates running for governor are vying for the conservative label.

But most of the quotes and analysis focus on the issues of guns and abortion. If that sounds familiar, it mirrors the focus of conservatives in the Legislature this year. There is also an interesting section on the controversial nature of accepting stimulus funds.

One might think that in such a long piece on what it means to be a conservative running for governor in Tennessee, some anti-equality rhetoric might make an appearance. The closest the article comes is this blurb about Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey:

Ramsey, whose platform includes "traditional values" that recognize that "the family is the core unit of society," said he gives no less importance to Tennessee's economic challenges.

Family Action's David Fowler, who is quoted extensively, hints at but does not name GLBT issues, thus compounding their absence:

"So far, in the literature I've read from all the candidates, the issues of greatest concern to their conservative base have not been addressed."

If guns, abortion, and the stimulus are openly discussed, what else could Fowler mean but GLBT issues? But then again, what's a conservative in Tennessee to do--run against gay marriage? It's already banned by statute and constitutional amendment. Would running against adoption by gays and lesbians get a GOP candidate very far in a statewide race? How about running against the hate crimes bill? Not likely.

These candidates certainly aren't at the point of turning pro-gay, but they may have realized that running against the GLBT community is a non-starter...if it even crossed their minds to begin with. Let's hope that's the case.

Who doesn't want to be Governor?

Who will be elected Governor of Tennessee in 2010? My eight ball has a leak, so my predictions would faulty. However, the Commerical Appeal has a story on who's interested:

Running for governor in 2010

Republicans

• Bill Gibbons, 58, Shelby County District Attorney General since 1996
• Bill Haslam, 50, Mayor of Knoxville since 2003
• Zach Wamp, 51, of Chattanooga, U.S. Rep. for 3rd District since 1994

Democrats

• Kim McMillan, 47, Clarksville lawyer and former state representative

Potential candidates

Republicans

• Marsha Blackburn, 56, of Brentwood, U.S. Rep. for 7th District since 2002
• Ron Ramsey, 53, of Blountville, lieutenant governor and state legislator since 1993

Democrats

• Andy Berke, 40, Chattanooga lawyer, state senator since 2007
• Lincoln Davis, 65, of Pall Mall, U.S. Rep. for 4th District since 2002
• Harold Ford Jr., 38, former U.S. Rep. from Memphis and current chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council
• Roy Herron, 55, of Dresden, lawyer, state senator since 1997
• Doug Horne, 63, of Knoxville, president of a real estate development firm, former state Democratic chairman
• Jim Kyle, 58, of Memphis, lawyer, state senator since 1983

The state of the race for Governor on Facebook

Bill Haslam

Kim McMillan

Andy Berke (general for supporters)

Zach Wamp (general for supporters)

Lincoln Davis (general for supporters)

More as we find them...

Wamp announces. Will he back off his bigoted ways?

Congressman Zach Wamp has announced that he's running for governor. No surprise there to anyone who has seen those billboards up and down the highways. Wamp has a pretty anti-gay record when it comes to voting and of rhetoric.

I hope he cleans that nonsense up as we advance into the campaign.

Ain't lookin' for trouble

Tim McGraw helped remove a fan who apparently was looking for trouble at a recent concert. Given Bill Purcell's new gig at Harvard and the problems of the other Democratic candidates for governor in 2010, it just makes you wonder whether the Democrats might need a celebrity like McGraw to take on some of the Republican powerhouses considering a run.

As I noted in another post, there hasn't been much talk of Tim McGraw as a gubernatorial candidate in a few months, but we'll see if the speculation grows this year.

McMillan exploring gubernatorial bid

Former House Majority Leader Kim McMillan of Clarksville is considering a run for governor. The Democrat has formed a committee to explore a possible candidacy. Other Democrats and Republicans who are likely contenders are also mentioned.