Phil Bredesen

In 1987, Bredesen ran for mayor of Nashville. He finished second out of 10 candidates with 30% of the vote, behind only 5th District Congressman Bill Boner, who won 46%.[11] Since Boner fell short of the necessary threshold for an outright victory, he and Bredesen faced each other in a runoff. Boner won the runoff, 75,790 votes to 66,153,[12] largely by emphasizing that he was a Nashville native while Bredesen was a Northerner.[13]

In December 1987, Bredesen ran in the Democratic primary for the 5th District congressional seat left open by Boner's victory. He finished a distant second behind Bob Clement, son of former governor Frank G. Clement.[12]

In the years following that loss, Bredesen established relationships with city officials and prepared for a second run. Nashville, meanwhile, struggled economically. In the 1991 mayoral race, Boner was dealing with a personal scandal, and declined to run.[14] Bredesen won the election, defeating Councilwoman Betty Nixon, 78,896 votes to 30,282.[12]

As mayor of Nashville, Bredesen added more than 440 new teachers, built 32 new schools and renovated 43 others. He also implemented a back-to-basics curriculum to teach students the fundamentals of learning.[9] Under the Bredesen Administration, the NFL's Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) were brought to Nashville and furnished with a new stadium, Nissan Stadium; the NHL awarded Nashville its first of four new expansion franchises, the Nashville Predators; and Bridgestone Arena was built.[14] Bredesen also attempted to lure the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and later the NHL's New Jersey Devils to Nashville, but both efforts were unsuccessful.[15] A new downtown library was built as a cornerstone of major improvements to the entire library system, the city's downtown entertainment district was renovated,[9] and two parks, Beaman Park and Shelby Bottoms, were established.[14]

Bredesen did not run for a third term in 1999. The Metro Charter had been amended in 1994 to limit city council members to two consecutive four-year terms, and was worded in such a way that it appeared to apply to mayors as well.[16] Although mayors had been permitted to serve a maximum of three consecutive terms since the formation of Metro Nashville in 1963, Bredesen did not make an issue of that.

In 1994, Bredesen won the Democratic nomination for governor, capturing 53% of the vote in a primary that included more than a half-dozen candidates, among them Shelby County Mayor Bill Morris and state senator Steve Cohen.[12] In the November general election, he was defeated by the Republican nominee, 7th district U.S. Representative Don Sundquist, 807,104 votes to 664,252.[12]

Bredesen ran for governor of Tennessee again in 2002. He easily won the Democratic nomination, capturing nearly 80% of the vote in a six-candidate primary,[12] and faced Republican 4th district U.S. Representative Van Hilleary in November (the incumbent, Sundquist, was term-limited). Bredesen promised to manage state government better, improve Tennessee's schools and use his experience as a managed-care executive to fix TennCare, which had created a critical budget shortfall toward the end of Sundquist's term. His reputation as a moderate Democrat was well established (he is a member of the "good government" faction of the Nashville Democratic Party), so Hilleary's attempts to brand him as a liberal ultimately failed. Republicans also suffered from Sundquist's unpopular attempts to implement a state income tax.[17] Bredesen garnered more support in East Tennessee than was usual for a Democrat, especially one from Nashville. In November, Bredesen narrowly defeated Hilleary, 837,284 votes to 786,803.[12]

Bredesen in 2003

Bredesen became governor amid a fiscal crisis, with a predicted state budget shortfall of $800 million. Much of the shortfall was due to TennCare, which was $650 million over budget.[5] Sundquist had hoped to remedy the budget shortfall by implementing an income tax, but this proved wildly unpopular and was never enacted.[17] Bredesen argued that services would have to be cut, saying, "you can't have Massachusetts services and Tennessee taxes."[17] In 2003, he signed a 9% across-the-board spending cut.[5] In 2004, he enacted a series of changes to TennCare, essentially removing 191,000 Medicaid-eligible patients and reducing benefits.[5] By 2006, these changes had reduced the program's cost by more than $500 million.[5] Bredesen used some of the savings to establish a "safety net" for health clinics affected by the cuts. In 2006, he implemented "Cover Tennessee" to cover people with preexisting conditions and the uninsured.[5]

During his first term, Bredesen enacted a number of measures aimed at improving education. In 2003, the state established the Tennessee Lottery to fund college scholarships for the state's high school graduates.[5] Teachers' pay was raised above the average salary in the Southeast, and Tennessee's pre-kindergarten initiative was expanded to include a statewide program for four-year-olds. Bredesen created the Governor's Books from Birth Foundation, a statewide expansion of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library that offers free books for children, and in his fourth year, he signed legislation that increased funding for education by $366.5 million, much of which came from savings due to TennCare reform.[5]

To attract new industry, Bredesen worked with the General Assembly to reform Tennessee's worker compensation system (changes supported by the business community and opposed by trial lawyers),[5] and invest in programs to help laid-off employees develop new skills. During his tenure, 2,889 companies, including Nissan and International Paper, expanded or moved to Tennessee, bringing more than 104,000 jobs and $12.8 billion in new business investment to the state.[18]

Bredesen launched a war on methamphetamine abuse, focusing on treatment, prevention and public awareness, with the Governor's Meth-Free Tennessee initiative. Criminal penalties and resources for law enforcement were also enhanced as part of this program, which led to a 50% decline in illegal and toxic meth labs.[19] In 2005, Bredesen signed legislation establishing the Tennessee Heritage Conservation Trust Fund, which increased the state's land-buying power in hopes of protecting ecologically significant land and conserving or restoring historically significant areas.[20]

In his 2006 reelection campaign, Bredesen brushed off a primary challenge from John Jay Hooker, winning nearly 90% of the vote.[12] In the general election, he defeated State Senator Jim Bryson, 1,247,491 votes to 540,853,[12] sweeping all 95 counties and garnering more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in state history.

Bredesen at the 2008 Governor's Luncheon

Bredesen meeting with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate (back)

In 2007, Bredesen was criticized for proposing a private donation funded $4.8 million dining room upgrade to entertain lawmakers and other dignitaries to the Tennessee Governor's Mansion. Critics labelled the proposed complex "Bredesen's Bunker," and derided it as too elaborate and expensive.[21]

In August 2008, Bredesen enacted further cuts to TennCare, placing restrictions on services to 10,800 TennCare patients who received some type of home nursing care. The new limits affected about 1,000 of those patients.[22][23]

In the 2008 elections, Republicans gained control of both chambers of the General Assembly for the first time since Reconstruction. The onset of the Great Recession also limited what Bredesen could accomplish during his remaining years in office. In 2009, he called for nearly $129 million in state spending cuts and enacted a voluntary buyout for state employees that reduced the workforce by 5% without requiring layoffs.[5] In April 2009, Bredesen signed a bill into law which eliminated thumbprint requirements for gun purchases.[24] In May 2009, Bredesen vetoed a bill that would have allowed people to carry guns in bars, but the legislature overrode his veto.[5] In June 2009, Bredesen signed a bill into law allowing loaded guns in cars.[25]

Bredesen has said the Affordable Care Act "needs fixing."[46] In 2018, he said, "I was not a fan of the Affordable Care Act but when it passed, I said, 'it's the law of the land, let's make it work.'"[47]

Bredesen is pro-choice on abortion.[48] He supports legal access to abortion, but does not consider it a defining issue of his platform.[49] He supported a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in 2006, but supported the right of same-sex couples to adopt children.[48] He supports non-discrimination protections for same-sex couples.[50] Bredesen is a supporter of capital punishment.[51]

Bredesen had an A rating from the NRA as governor, but in 2018, the NRA gave him a D rating.[52] During his Senate campaign, he has expressed his support for the 2nd Amendment and described himself as a gun owner.[52] His campaign disagrees with the D rating and has responded that Bredesen "agrees with 80-plus percent of NRA's positions [but] differs, for example, by supporting gun show background checks."[52] In the wake of the February 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Bredesen called for universal background checks for gun purchases (including those made at gun shows), tighter checks for mental illness, and a ban on bump stocks.[52][53][54][55] As governor, he vetoed bills to allow guns in bars or restaurants that serve alcohol.[56][57][58] He also signed into law a bill allowing gun owners with handgun permits to carry their firearms in public parks.[59] In 2009, Bredesen said he would not veto a bill exempting certain firearms from federal regulations, allowing the bill to become law without his signature, but he had vetoed a similar bill earlier (his veto was overridden).[60]

Regarding immigration issues, Bredesen has taken positions that are commonly associated with both parties. In 2004, Bredesen introduced a bill to "end the practice of issuing state drivers' licenses to undocumented persons."[61] He supports DACA for undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children.[50]

In October 2018, Bredesen broke with the Democratic Party and endorsed the confirmation of Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. The endorsement came the day before the final confirmation vote on the nomination.[62]

On fiscal issues, Bredesen leans conservative. He ran for governor opposing the state income tax and as governor made cuts to the state's government health care plan due to its financial trouble. Bredesen opposed the Republican Party's 2017 tax reform, saying it provided "crumbs" to the middle class.[63] As governor, he proposed increasing taxes on cigarettes.[64] In 2007, he expressed uncertainty about the Bush tax cuts stating they would not help everyone.[65] He also sought to eliminate the grocery tax break arguing that funding was needed for the state's budget.[66] He did not raise the sales tax and opposed raising taxes on gas, but did support increasing a tax on cable services.[67] He supports an increase in the minimum wage.[50]