The stakes are high for the Nov. 3 election: seats for governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, state senator and state representative are all up for grabs, as are three state constitutional amendments and one city charter amendment.
If you haven't voted yet, make plans to vote early or on Election Day, Nov. 3.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett has resumed his personal attacks on Democratic challenger Michaela Barnett. referring to her as a radical and her supporters as sewer rats. Burchett claims Barnett's supporters could not find Knoxville on a map. He says her base is New York, San Francisco and Washington.
I have known Burchett
for more than 45 years and his parents before him. Burchett today is a very different person from the person who grew up in West Hills in the 1970s and 1980s. He never attacked opponents like this when he was in the state legislature or serving as county mayor. He has been drinking the water in Washington. He has forgotten where he grew up.
Burchett is now actively seeking the U.S. Senate seat that will open up if Sen. Marsha Blackburn is elected governor and has to resign her Senate seat once she assumes the new office. Former Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs also is widely mentioned as a possible replacement. While Jacobs' political views mirror Burchett's views, his personality is more mature and grown up. He is not losing sleep over UFOs. Jacobs is the treasurer for Blackburn's gubernatorial campaign.
If Burchett is appointed by Blackburn, it would trigger a special election for his open congressional seat at a large cost to taxpayers for both a primary and general election. Republican candidates who might want the seat include Jacobs, state Sen. Becky Duncan Massey, Knox County Mayor Betsy Henderson and state Rep. Jason Zachary. Barnett might run again as the Democratic candidate again if she runs a strong race against Burchett on Nov. 3.
As we get closer to Election Day, the governor's race has become much more interesting and challenging than it was this spring when it was seen as Blackburn's to lose. It is now a tighter contest with Blackburn still the front-runner but not the presumptive winner. Jerri Green, the Democratic nominee, is a factor as she starts with a base of 35% of the vote just because she's the Democrat in the race,
The two active independents are David Hatley and Lauren Pinkston. Hatley has put more than $8 million into the race, mostly attacking Blackburn from the right. Pinkston has much less funding and appears likely to run fourth among the four.
Blackburn is concerned enough that she has purchased ads attacking Hatley. The next governor will almost certainly be elected with less than 50% of the vote for the first time in 120 years of Tennessee history.
The decision to cancel the planned livestream execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, who murdered 13 fellow soldiers, including a pregnant woman, at Fort Hood in 2009, is the right call. The idea to show the execution live produced bipartisan blowback. Even Vice President JD Vance said he would not be watching. President Donald Trump relented and canceled the plan by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to show the execution. Very few countries – all of them dictatorships – put their executions on public display.
Birthdays
Oct. 31: Michael Carillon is 35. Michael Bensey is 72. Ethan Grantham is 37. Jane Pauley is 76. William Mendoza is 21. Former Knox Democratic chair Matt Shears is 33.
Nov. 1: Nick Cazana is 54. Former Tennessee First Lady Crissy Haslam is 68. Former city councilmember Don Ferguson is 94. Shana Love is 46. Andrea Kendrick is 43. Amy Midas is 58. Jeffrey Devlin is 56.
Nov. 2: Retired attorney Archie Carpenter is 84. Britton Sharp is 50. Scott Meyer is 59. Gary Schmieder is 75. Jim Nixon is 81. Thomas Skaggs is 67.
Nov. 3: Attorney Greg Shanks is 71. Rachel Beasley is 48. Tillman Keller is 85. John Butler is 67. Michael Threkeld is 76. Sam Maynard is 73. Robin Anderson is 50.
Nov. 4: Hallerin Hill is 62. Nicholas Cakmes is 68. Judge Bud Armstrong is 76. Clifford Beach Jr. is 61. Scott Shoemaker is 44. Harry Call is 82. Austin Hamilton is 29. Former First Lady Laura Bush is 80.
Nov. 5: Joe Connell is 74. Ben Barton, husband of Mayor Indya Kincannon, is 57. John McCarty is 64. Clay Crownover is 58. Molly Anderson is 67. Makaela Webb is 24. Tim Hester is 65.
Nov. 6: Ruth Chobanian is 71. Andrew Harper is 34. Dorothy Stair is 81. Jarrod Suits is 46. Hash Hashemian is 76. Stan Johnson is 56.
Victor Ashe is a former Knoxville mayor and former ambassador to Poland. He is a columnist for Shopper News.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett has forgotten where he grew up | Opinion
