Davis will seek governor's seat
NASHVILLE — Tennessee’s next gubernatorial election is three years away, but already big names are gearing up for a run at the seat that will be vacated by Phil Bredesen.
Congressman Lincoln Davis (D — Pall Mall) announced earlier this week that he plans to run for governor in 2010.
“I’ve made up my mind to run for governor,” Davis told the Associated Press.
Davis, who represents Tennessee’s sprawling Fourth Congressional District — which includes Scott County, might face some uncomfortable opposition in the Democratic primary for that office, however. Former Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. is also said to be considering a run for the office.
The head of Tennessee’s Democratic Party said that Ford is “seriously considering” entering the governor’s race.
Davis and Ford are friends, and Davis served as Ford’s campaign chairman during Ford’s unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid last year.
“I would imagine that if I’m in the race, [Ford] will step aside,” Davis told the AP.
Bredesen was re-elected governor in 2006. His second term will end in 2010. He cannot seek re-election.
Davis, who owns a construction company in Fentress County, had been frequently rumored to be interested in the governor’s race before making his announcement this week.
Davis broke into politics in 1978, when he was elected mayor of Byrdstown, in Pickett County. He later served two terms as a state representative in the 1980s, and two terms as a state senator beginning in the mid-1990s. He resigned his senate post in 2002 after being elected to replace Republican Van Hilleary in a special congressional election. Hilleary had left Congress to unsuccessfully run against Bredesen in the gubernatorial race that same year.
A Democrat, Davis is often painted as a lawmaker who can reach across the divide of party lines. In past congressional elections, he has been endorsed by many groups typically associated with Republicans.