Replies

It should be remembered that red = republican not Conservative.

Tennessee is now Republican in both houses of the legislature, the Governor, Two US Senators and several Congressmen. Tennessee is very red. It is not however conservative in the definition here on FR. Conservative candidates do not fare well against those more moderate Republicans.

Many here consider all not conservative to the bone as RINO’s but in Tennessee strong conservative candidates don’t get elected.

Where I live, A strong conservative won the congressional seat against a field of other Republicans, only to lose the seat in the next election against only one. The current congressmen is conservative republican but not to the same degree. He is as conservative as can be and get elected

It should be remembered that red = republican not Conservative.

It should also be remembered that the red/blue distinction used to be the party in power vs the one not in power. It changed every few elections. The MSM, fearing the their Leftists would be (properly) associated with Red Communists, stopped switching and gave the red color, apparently permanently, to the GOP in 2000.

Tennessee turned republican in this last election. Prior to that, we had a democrat governor Bredeson (as far as 'rats go, he was one of the better ones) and near parity in the state bodies. Somehow, parity meant that the leftists had enough control to hold the line on several conservative initiatives.

Prior to Bredeson, we had RINO governor Sundquist (AKA "Taxquist") who tried to institute a state income tax which is against the Tennessee state constitution. He needed the money to fund Tenncare, the commie/socialist medical care scheme, because it was bankrupting the state. That was back in the 2000-2001 era. Also under his watch, illegals were able to get drivers' licenses in TN - I think that law was changed around 2006 or so under Bredeson.

One of the reasons that Tennessee seems to field RINOs in great numbers is that the Republican party has open primaries, meaning that democrats can vote in them and sway the vote leftward. Also, the RINOs running the party seem to favor "moderate" candidates, kind of like what Rove favored in the Delaware primary last November. In other words, they still think it's OK to "reach across the aisle" to the commies on the left.

This last election may be the major change that Tennessee needs. Outside of the usual liberal strongholds in central Nashville and Memphis, and to a lessor extend, Chattanooga and Knoxville, the state is pretty conservative. Maybe the will of the people will again be heeded in this state and the advances of the commies can be pushed back.