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TN Congressional Districts


fieldmarshaldj

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I thought people in Nashville loved Purcell? What has turned you guys against him?

I don't love him, I've hated him ever since he served in the legislature and took over from McWherter drawing the lines to disenfranchise the emerging GOP voting majority by obscenely gerrymandering the district lines (one that, in the House, still holds today, despite the fact the GOP gets around 10% more of the vote than the Democrats do). :angry:

His performance as a indecisive, hand-wringing, wishy-washy, politically-correct Mayor has been laughable. Maybe if he had thought of every problem as disenfranchising Republicans, we would've seen a ruthless and unstoppable single-minded juggernaut instead, one who is unafraid, unashamed, and unembarrassed to accomplish a goal. <_<

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I thought people in Nashville loved Purcell? What has turned you guys against him?

He's actually still popular with most folks in Nashville. He was elected on a pro-neighborhood platform by an electorate that was considered by some to be fatigued by the large number of capital projects (library, coliseum, arena) during Bredesen's two terms. True to his platform, he held a tight line on the Sounds ballpark negotiations and has been very cool towards a new convention center. Both of these items are dear to the hearts of many here on this site, and to the tourism and lodging industry.

FMJ adds a true political dislike for the man to the mix. That I can respect. Brother FMJ and I probably don't agree on much, but you gotta respect a man who can take and give a good political punch while still smiling. FMJ, feel the luv, baby, feel the luv! :wub:

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Does anyone have a congressional map of the state of Tennessee? I believe this state represents gerrymandering at it's worst. Why Does Lincoln Davis represent such a large swath of Tennessee????

Our TN U.S. House districts are, indeed, amongst some of the worst in the country (though I've seen far worse, including the current lines in Georgia, which were drawn by the former Democrat majority, to try to jack up their numbers (which were 8 GOP/3 Dem -- all Black, prior to 2003, currently 7 GOP/6 Dem (2 White/4 Black), but new lines will be used by the GOP majority to undo it, and hopefully will unseat the 2 White Dems to make it 9 GOP/4 Dem come next January).

Our seats now stand at 5 Dem/4 GOP (despite the fact that more vote for the GOP statewide), when it should be 7 GOP/2 Dem (only Nashville's 5th and Memphis's 9th should be Dem). When Van Hilleary vacated his seat in '02 (itself gerrymandered to elect his predecessor, Dem Jim Cooper), the 4th was redesigned slightly for the sole purpose of electing then-State Sen. Lincoln Davis. The 7th district was designed to corral the most GOP areas from south of Nashville clear to Memphis, also a similarly ludicrous concoction (certain "arms" of it look more like a turgid something-or-other), and remove pesky Williamson County from Bart Gordon's bailiwick (and Gordon already sits in a heavily-trending GOP district without it). John Tanner's rural 8th is also moving into the GOP column, and cutting off that gigantic swath of the 7th cutting to Memphis and placing it in his district will put him in jeopardy after the GOP (hopefully) gets full control of redistricting for 2012.

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The shape of the 7th Congressional District may be the most blantant example of gerrymandering in the history of the world!!!!!

Noooo, that honors goes to the original post-1992 North Carolina 12th Congressional District, which stretched for a few hundred miles, in some places no wider than the highway, to connect it from Charlotte clear out to near Raleigh. However some honorable mentions for the Rorschach test inkblot districts for Sheila Jackson-Lee and Eddie Bernice Johnson in Texas (to accommodate the Voting-Rights Act).

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I think the 8th, even with portions of the 7th would lean Dem (conservative dem), unless the Memphis burbs where placed wholey in his district and not shared with 9th at all, then still it would be competative seat more than likely.

I think with Tanner in the seat, even with the Memphis burbs he would be safe, now when he left the 8th would be up for grabs.

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I think the 8th, even with portions of the 7th would lean Dem (conservative dem), unless the Memphis burbs where placed wholey in his district and not shared with 9th at all, then still it would be competative seat more than likely.

I think with Tanner in the seat, even with the Memphis burbs he would be safe, now when he left the 8th would be up for grabs.

I think of the 8th as being somewhat similar in nature to KY's 1st (right above TN-8). The area, being in your neck of the woods, you know remains ancestrally rural/Conservative Dem, but is trending GOP. On the KY side, once Ed Whitfield won the seat in '94, it was like a watershed moment, and once where you couldn't find a Republican under a rock in Alben Barkley country, it's hard to find a Democrat now. Tanner will probably, however, still hold it as long as he likes, unless the district is so dramatically reconfigured. It may be unlikely if the heavily GOP East Memphis 'burbs, Jackson, et al, is included in the new 8th, that he'd prevail against a strong GOP pol.

As it stands now, I don't think it is particularly fair that the suburbs of Memphis have to be represented in the House by someone who lives 200 miles away not but 20 minutes away from my home in Antioch (S.E. Nashville) in the 7th. That's the same problem that happened when Williamson County's Robin Beard represented the old 6th from 1973-83 when he took in all the way to East Memphis.

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^ No I definately agree the 7th is really badly drawn in geographic terms, the 7th and the 4th really needed some land swapping for the districts to be geographically sound. I think the 8th is actually a well drawn district, with the district's overall interests and qualities being fairly similar .

I agree that even with the Memphis burbs Tanner would be safe in a new 8th , as he would appeal enough to the rural vote and the independent vote to carry the district (55-57% maybe?) even with the burb vote; and keep credible opponents out of the race (most of whom would probably rather wait and run for an empty new and more competative 8th). Plus, most of the credible Republican candidates would come out of Shelby, which would throw a geographical bias into the mix, as most of the district would cringe at having someone from urban/suburban Shelby Co. represent their rural and small city interests. I really think the rural sections, or Jackson, of a new 8th would have better chances of producing winning candidates for either party. Thats my assessment.

As for KY-1, that area definately has now broken its Dem tradition, and can no longer be called the "Gibralter of Democracy" (meaning Democrats) for voting so overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates. The extreme weakness of the KY Dem Party has also led to KY-1 becoming a very safe Republican Congressional seat and for the party to lose grip on the local level increasingly as well.

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Congressional districts 1, 2, 5, 8, and 9 appear completely fair. The others are the problem. If you live in North Williamson county, you have the same congressman as North Shelby County; and if you live in south Williamson, you share a congressman with Cambell county way over in East Tennessee??? This is completely unfair to the voters of this state, and it makes you wonder why many people feel their vote trruly does not count.

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I agree that even with the Memphis burbs Tanner would be safe in a new 8th , as he would appeal enough to the rural vote and the independent vote to carry the district (55-57% maybe?) even with the burb vote; and keep credible opponents out of the race (most of whom would probably rather wait and run for an empty new and more competative 8th). Plus, most of the credible Republican candidates would come out of Shelby, which would throw a geographical bias into the mix, as most of the district would cringe at having someone from urban/suburban Shelby Co. represent their rural and small city interests. I really think the rural sections, or Jackson, of a new 8th would have better chances of producing winning candidates for either party. Thats my assessment.

It's still possible Tanner may be vulnerable to a challenge, if only because he has never really faced a strong GOP opponent in all the years he has been in Congress. Of course, we are finally starting to see GOP representation sprouting outside of East Memphis/Shelby and Jackson, which will be the key to finally taking control of the State House, so it's not necessarily certain a challenger may arise from the "usual" GOP areas of West TN. Of course, it was said, too, that Marsha Blackburn would not be received well 200 miles away from her home in Williamson County, but no complaints have been heard so far (though I'm sure both might agree that Blackburn would be better representing a new "6th" that encircles the Nashville suburbs

and a new 8th centered on the East Memphis/Shelby).

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The majority of the population in the 7th's population is based in the Memphis and Nashville burbs I believe, so in a way she represents the majority of district well as far as interests go, I'm not to sure how good she represents the economic interests of the rural areas in between, but I am sure she represents their social values well.

That would be my concern with having the Memphis burbs in the 8th, if they begain to hold a large sway over the district, the rest of West Tennessee's interests might suffer (esp. the rural areas), be it a Republican or a Democrat. I would like to see our representation to continue to come from the rural areas/small towns or Jackson, no matter what their party affilation is. That little area has little in common interest wise to most of the district, so I would hope some of the new 9th would get some of those burbs so as not to give them too much sway over the 8th, plus make the 9th a little more competative as well.

Thats a little personal bias there.

One more thing about Tanner, what exactly would the argument be to replace him? He does a good job in representing the district and is extremely well liked according to the vast majority of people you meet in the district across the political spectrum, aside from a minority who are completely partisan and would never vote for a Democrat. I think thats why he never gets credible challengers, most view him as too hard to beat due to his popularity in the district.

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Congressional districts 1, 2, 5, 8, and 9 appear completely fair. The others are the problem. If you live in North Williamson county, you have the same congressman as North Shelby County; and if you live in south Williamson, you share a congressman with Cambell county way over in East Tennessee??? This is completely unfair to the voters of this state, and it makes you wonder why many people feel their vote trruly does not count.

Welcome to the wonderful world of TN Democrat gerrymandering, a practice performed to near-perfection since 1971 (albeit with a couple of kinks). Excluding my already-stated complaints about legislative gerrymandering, I'll mention a few things about the Congressional lines. Prior to the '60s or so, the lines were fairly drawn, and it was already a given that how it broke down was that Districts 1 (Far East TN) and 2 (Knoxville & Environs) were Republican, period, so attempting to gerrymander wasn't going to work. Both have never elected a Democrat and haven't been competive since the 19th Century (District 2 was a Whig stronghold prior to being GOP and hasn't elected a Democrat in well over 150 years). All the other 7 districts of the state (as of 1960) were heavily Democrat, the last time any outside the first 2 districts had elected a Republican was in 1920 when the GOP swept a shocking 5 out of then-10 districts (including knocking off a powerful rural Democrat named Cordell Hull).

Where the erosion started in the other 7 districts began in 1962 was when in District 3 (Chattanooga) when the longtime incumbent Conservative Democrat James Frazier, Jr. was upended in the primary by a liberal, and Republican Bill Brock took the district in the general. The district likely would've remained GOP ever since, but fell into the Dems hands thanks to Watergate in '74, and also because of the weakness of Brock's successor, LaMar Baker. It remained Dem for the next 20 years because of the personal popularity of moderate Democrat Marilyn Lloyd (although after a scare in '92 by Zach Wamp, she saw the writing on the wall and retired before facing likely defeat in '94), and now is back a safe GOP seat, although it has somewhat distorted boundaries.

The 4th district (pre-1973) was not much of a worry for the Dems, so it remained quite contiguous and fair, well-suited for its longtime incumbent, Joe L. Evins. After TN lost a 9th seat in '72, the district was enlarged, but still remained a "block-like shape." This was the district that Al Gore, Jr. would represent upon Evins's retirement in 1976. Now, where the district started to obtain its more grotesque caricature was after we regained the 9th seat in 1982. Gore chose to go with the newly-created 6th, which hugged the rural and suburban areas east and south of Nashville, and Jim Cooper arose to represent a district that looked like a slash mark. By the '92 redistricting, intended solely to protect Cooper, the district reached its apogee of absurdity when the slash-shaped district grew arms to the east and west to look like a gigantic "reverse-Z" shape. When Cooper vacated it in '94, the unintended consequence was that a Republican won it for the first time in 74 years with Van Hilleary. After he vacated it in '02 just in time to have it redrawn, which was drawn for its current Dem occupant, the district was made "chubbier" by taking all of the western section of the 3rd district, slightly removing its eastern and western counties, but on the western end, audaciously stretched northward to southwest of Nashville and only a county away from the Tennessee River, though it still is only the 2nd most ludicrous-shaped district in the state today.

The 5th district (Nashville), which has not elected a Republican since 1872, has generally tended to be more contiguous, though I'd contend its current lines were of a gerrymandered nature, allowing a heavily GOP small chunk of Davidson County to be included into the 7th and grabbing a substantial swath of GOP-trending Northern Wilson County and the ludicrous splitting of extremely narrow Cheatham County, which should be fully contained within the 5th.

The historic 6th has been the sacrificial lamb for which its voters were dumped into other districts on the whim of the Democrat line-drawers. If you have lived in 1 particular county there, you might've found yourself in 3 different Congressional districts in the span of 40 years. Prior to 1972, the district hugged the north, west, and south environs around Nashville and sent the famous Nuclear Sub Captain William Anderson, a liberal Democrat, to represent it. The 6th had to be merged with the 7th in '72, and the lines were drawn to keep Anderson in his seat, but to his shock, he was upended by a young Conservative GOP activist named Robin Beard, who easily held the seat for a decade before vacating it for an ill-faited run against Jim Sasser in 1982. With the regained 9 seats in '82, the Dems moved the 6th to encompass the south and east of Nashville, which Gore preferred to take over, albeit for just one term. Bart Gordon easily took the seat, but whereas when he first won it, it was a fairly safe rural/suburban Democrat area, it has been unmatched in a political transformation to encompass some of the most GOP areas in the state. After 1992, Gordon's tenure has been aided entirely due to gerrymandering of the lines of the 6th, and following 2002, he finally shed the overly hostile (to him) hyper-GOP Williamson County. Its lines now look like the old Enterprise insignia laying sideways. I expect Gordon will not likely survive the 2012 redistricting, unless the GOP boldly dares to go where no Republican has gone before and take him out early.

The 7th pre-1973 used to encompass solely a rural southwest TN locale, just to the east of Memphis, and was the reserve of a once-popular Democrat named Ray Blanton. Blanton avoided a primary showdown with fellow 6th district Congressman Bill Anderson by opting to take a kamikaze run against Sen. Howard Baker in '72, which gained him enough respect and exposure to win the Governorship in 1974. With the 7th being the previous and future 8th for the '70s, I'll jump ahead to 1982 when the 7th was split. This time, the 7th encompassed its old southwestern position, but also dramatically moved straight north to the KY border just west of Nashville, and was drawn for a young pol named Bob Clement. However, much to his and the Dem line-drawers chagrin, a GOP Memphis suburbanite named Don Sundquist narrowly carried the gerrymandered seat (and Clement moved to Nashville to win the 5th 6 years later). Since that time, as with the 6th, it has drastically moved more Republican and has so many now that it moved from being a district intended to elect a rural Democrat to one that has to corral enough Republicans within its lines to prevent neighboring districts from going to the GOP. In the '90s, the district resembled a series of large steps rising from East Memphis up to Clarksville, but after 2002, it surpassed the 4th district to become the MOAG (mother of all gerrymanders -- or rather mother of all corrallings). If the district were just encompassing the southwest right to the Perry & Wayne County lines, it would be a nice and fair shape, almost resembling exactly what Blanton's old district was like prior to 1973. But beyond Perry County begins what I would describe lines so obscene as to resemble a narrow turgid male body part about to do an unspeakable act upon a certain feminine-shaped body part within Montgomery County. To say this district is about screwing Republican strength, it literally resembles the act on the map. Whomever drew it has a very filthy, albeit exceptionally creative, mind. :blink:

The Northwest-cornered 8th (7th from 1972-82) has been one of the least touched (with the exception of its borders to the east and south to allow for its ludicrous neighbors), and has had only about 3 members in 5 decades (the rural Kings: "Fats" Everett, Ed Jones, and John Tanner). What jeopardizes the 8th is the unpacking of the 7th, although even in its current incarnation, the 8th is still making its inevitable march towards the GOP column despite its legendary local occupants attempts to dramatically stymie the growth.

Last but not least is the 9th (City of Memphis). For many decades, heavily Democrat and the bailiwick of legendary Boss Crump (who actually served 2 terms as its Congressman, 1931-35, before preferring to remain in Memphis). For 25 years, the district sent Clifford Davis, and he might've lasted longer had the political polarization of the '60s not arisen. When the old-guard Davis was knocked off in 1964 in the Dem primary by the ultraliberal White George Grider, it began a very rocky period for the district. Grider became persona non grata to White voters after a single term, and Republican Dan Kuykendall knocked him off in 1966 to become the first Republican to win the seat since 1884. Perhaps knowing or unknowing, Kuykendall's tenure would ultimately be jeopardized by White voters leaving his district to ultimately alter the dynamics of the neighboring 7th district. In 1972, with the loss of the 9th seat, and in an attempt to preserve the majority of the House delegation (which was 5 Dem-4 GOP going into that election), the Dems placed all the Black voters into the redrawn 8th (which it was called in the '70s), even if it meant electing a Black (which they really didn't want). However, in doing so, it backfired, with Blanton retiring in the 7th, Anderson losing the 6th, and Black State Sen. J.O. Patterson failing to knock off Kuykendall (with nearly every White voter supporting Kuykendall and every Black supporting Patterson), the GOP grabbed a 5 GOP to 3 Dem advantage for 1973-75. What did in Kuykendall for 1974 was not actually demographics, but Watergate. Two-term State Rep. Harold Ford, Sr. sported a "friendly, moderate" image and solely went after the White vote, exploiting their outrage over Watergate, and bled off enough of the White vote to defeat Kuykendall by 744 votes. Not mentioned was that there was actually a 2nd redistricting to alter some of the lines for 1976, which bolstered Ford for his reelection (Kuykendall, had he held on in '74, surely would've lost that year on the demographic shift), and not for 18 years did Ford, Sr. ever have another remotely close race, that being his final in 1994 (which he dropped to 59% against a Black Republican, Rod DeBerry, which hastened his retirement and bequeathment to his son, Junior, the seat in 1996).

Well, that's my little soliloquy on the recent lines and history of our 9 House districts...

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Very informative! :D Thanks for taking the time to write all that, I always enjoy getting to read such breakdowns, as I find such reading extremely interesting.

As for my 8th district, we have had some good representation IMO, be it only 3 members in 50 years. LOL All were good conservative/populist Democrats.

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The majority of the population in the 7th's population is based in the Memphis and Nashville burbs I believe, so in a way she represents the majority of district well as far as interests go, I'm not to sure how good she represents the economic interests of the rural areas in between, but I am sure she represents their social values well.

That would be my concern with having the Memphis burbs in the 8th, if they begain to hold a large sway over the district, the rest of West Tennessee's interests might suffer (esp. the rural areas), be it a Republican or a Democrat. I would like to see our representation to continue to come from the rural areas/small towns or Jackson, no matter what their party affilation is. That little area has little in common interest wise to most of the district, so I would hope some of the new 9th would get some of those burbs so as not to give them too much sway over the 8th, plus make the 9th a little more competative as well.

Thats a little personal bias there.

One more thing about Tanner, what exactly would the argument be to replace him? He does a good job in representing the district and is extremely well liked according to the vast majority of people you meet in the district across the political spectrum, aside from a minority who are completely partisan and would never vote for a Democrat. I think thats why he never gets credible challengers, most view him as too hard to beat due to his popularity in the district.

The presumption is that Blackburn represents suburban interests, which is fair, although it's not necessarily true that Williamson County has the exact same interests as East Shelby, and it surely is a pain travelling such lengths when the district could easily be made far more compact (just not easy for the Dems), and suburban Nashville, rural West TN, and suburban Memphis could all have representation. Blackburn's predecessor, Ed Bryant (hopefully our next Senator) was at least different in that he was from rural Henderson, so wasn't necessarily overrepresenting the interests of the suburbanites.

It may still be nearly impossible to more compactly make the seats without a future 8th not taking in a substantial chunk of the Memphis suburbs. I can forsee in the future that perhaps in 20 years, virtually every House seat (presuming we keep all 9) not having a rurally-based Representative, all of them either hailing from a city or suburb. Kinda sad, but we've been moving in that direction for quite awhile now.

Partly my objection to Tanner is more a partisan one. His record is fairly Conservative for a Democrat, but yet as long as he remains in Congress as a Democrat, he gives the radical left leadership one additional vote to place them closer to the Speakership and Committee Chairmanships, one whose views are not anywhere in line with the majority of the 8th district. He has everything to gain and nothing to lose by switching parties, which he has bitterly opposed, and as a Republican, he would be in a position to do even more for his district as a member of the majority (and would also allow him to vote for more Conservatively than he is permitted to do now). He still owes his allegiances, however, to the old rural West TN Democrat machine, and there's no shaking it. As a Republican partisan, we don't owe him a thing as long as he remains a Democrat, and I'd urge his defeat to replace him with a Conservative Republican in the mold of Ed Whitfield in KY-1 (himself a former Alben Barkley Democrat). Were he to switch parties, I would similarly support him. Although, after 18 years in Congress, I tend to like some turnover after awhile (I'm only partly sold on term limits, where I once used to be solid a decade ago). As a Republican, I'd actually like to see both Zach Wamp and especially Jimmy Duncan retire to allow for some new blood (and if I recall correctly, Wamp was a believer in term limits and has now "changed his mind" -- perhaps that is understandable in a district that might go Democrat, but the 3rd is GOP now and would handily elect a fresh Republican to succeed him, so he really has no excuse).

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Very informative! :D Thanks for taking the time to write all that, I always enjoy getting to read such breakdowns, as I find such reading extremely interesting.

As for my 8th district, we have had some good representation IMO, be it only 3 members in 50 years. LOL All were good conservative/populist Democrats.

Forgive me, I left out another noteworthy member (prior to Fats Everett), and ostensibly the most powerful 8th district Congressman in the 20th Century, that being Dyersburg Democrat Jere Cooper. Cooper, who served from 1929 until his untimely death in 1957 at the age of 64, served his final 3 years as Chairman of Ways & Means (generally considered the most influential House committee). Had he been blessed with better health, he might've lasted well into the 1970s.

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Suburban East Shelby is increasingly black. Less affluent whites are leaving suburban Shelby for DeSoto County. East Shelby--the 7th--seems to be increasingly middle-class black and wealthy whites. It'll be interesting to see how that affects the next redistricting.

Example, wealthy Germantown High School is about 50% black, and Collierville is the new hotspot for affluent blacks.

John Ford has many houses, but his main residence, when not living in Florida, is suburban East Shelby, not the South Memphis ghetto he represented. With the changing demographics, could it . . . . possibly . . . . happen . . . that a democratic Ford progeny could end up representing Williamson County in the 7th?! :rofl:

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John Ford has many houses, but his main residence, when not living in Florida, is suburban East Shelby, not the South Memphis ghetto he represented. With the changing demographics, could it . . . . possibly . . . . happen . . . that a democratic Ford progeny could end up representing Williamson County in the 7th?! :rofl:

Hey, I wouldn't put it past the Dems (if they're still in control of redistricting for 2012) to pull something like that. However, more likely is that the 9th will have to expand into East Shelby to adjust for slower growth or decline in the 9th as it exists. The 7th, as a whole, increases its Republican voting pattern with each successive election.

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That's why I can't believe that Ford Jr is running for senate. Does he really think he can win? It might as well be 1980 and his last name Nixon! Uncle John has tarnished his name for all of Tennessee to see. Did Rosalyn Kurita really think she couldn't have beaten him?

That Memphis congressional district was designed perfectly for the Ford's, but outside of that, I don't think a Ford has a shot at winning the state of Tennessee.

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That's why I can't believe that Ford Jr is running for senate. Does he really think he can win? It might as well be 1980 and his last name Nixon! Uncle John has tarnished his name for all of Tennessee to see. Did Rosalyn Kurita really think she couldn't have beaten him?

That Memphis congressional district was designed perfectly for the Ford's, but outside of that, I don't think a Ford has a shot at winning the state of Tennessee.

Oh, I think he has a chance of winning in the sense that he's dissociated himself from the start of his political career from the name of his Uncle. If he doesn't win, I think it will be due to the fact that the state wants a republican senator, or because he's black.

I doubt if Kurita could have beaten him, but she was my candidate.

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Hey, I wouldn't put it past the Dems (if they're still in control of redistricting for 2012) to pull something like that. However, more likely is that the 9th will have to expand into East Shelby to adjust for slower growth or decline in the 9th as it exists. The 7th, as a whole, increases its Republican voting pattern with each successive election.

Pull what? Leaving the district alone as it is increases its democratic voting in East Shelby's 7th.

To account for level population growth, the 9th might just as easily expand north into the more working-class white democratic areas of North Shelby.

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That's why I can't believe that Ford Jr is running for senate. Does he really think he can win? It might as well be 1980 and his last name Nixon! Uncle John has tarnished his name for all of Tennessee to see. Did Rosalyn Kurita really think she couldn't have beaten him?

That Memphis congressional district was designed perfectly for the Ford's, but outside of that, I don't think a Ford has a shot at winning the state of Tennessee.

If you talk to establishment White Democrats, they really don't want to have Junior as a standard-bearer (as most know Junior's chances), but if they oppose him, well, they come off looking like racists. He is qualified to run, after 10 years in the House, but his problems are that he is too liberal for this state, and he's a Ford. The Ford name is synonymous with big-city machine politics, corruption, and, last but not least, voter fraud and stealing elections. Short of the Republican nominee being a child molestor, he won't be winning a statewide office, all that outstate money notwithstanding.

Personally, I thought Kurita was a very attractive candidate for the Democrats, minus the baggage that a Ford would carry, but she wasn't going to be able to compete financially against Junior in the primary, but she would be a far stronger candidate in the general.

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Pull what? Leaving the district alone as it is increases its democratic voting in East Shelby's 7th.

To account for level population growth, the 9th might just as easily expand north into the more working-class white democratic areas of North Shelby.

I meant I don't put it past the Dem redistrictors to find a way to disenfranchise Republican voters even more so than they currently are. If they could find a way for a Ford or any other Dem to represent uber-Republican Williamson County, they would do it.

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