WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): It was closing in on midnight before Tennessee voters had a clear picture of what state politics will be looking like for the next couple -- or four -- years. With us to talk about some local results of the midterm elections is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back.
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris. Good to be back with you.
BLANK: Well, let's start with our new governor-elect, Marsha Blackburn. Here's a clip from her victory speech.
MARSHA BLACKBURN: Tennessee did not just elect a governor, Tennessee chose a direction.
BLANK: Otis, what direction is that exactly?
SANFORD: Well, I don't think it's the the direction that she thinks it is. The closeness of this race clearly indicates that Tennesseans are not happy with the direction that the country is going. And she represents that direction because she is so tied to the current administration. And so, if she thinks, as she said, that her goal is to bring the Trump policies into Tennessee, that would be a disaster. So, I don't know what direction she's talking about.
BLANK: Were you surprised at the outcome -- that there was only about a 6% difference between her and Democrat Jerri Green?
SANFORD: Yes, I was very surprised. You know, the polls had shown that she was winning this by double-digit margins. And if you look back at at the previous two gubernatorial races where Bill Lee ran over the Democrat, it was pretty much landslide territory. And she for a while there, she was behind for a lot of the evening, and was able to squeak through, is what I call it.
And you look at the Tennessee map: there were a lot of blue areas on the map where that was not there the last several election cycles.
BLANK: Well, this year, we were very much looking at what was happening with these three new congressional districts that carved up Memphis. Ultimately, the maps did what Republicans wanted them to do. Republican Charlie Hatcher won in District 5 and Brent Taylor won in District 9. There was some talk of potential upsets. What do you think is behind the results we got?
SANFORD: The bottom line with the results, Chris, is that the Tennessee legislature, the Republican supermajority legislature, rigged the system here. And they drew these lines hoping to get major dominant victories and they barely won in all three of them. Even David Kustoff, it was not an easy ride for him, very surprisingly, against Heidi Kuhn, the Democrat. So while they rigged it to favor them in a big big way, they narrowly won. And I think that they need to look back at this because in two years, this could change again. One of the big problems I saw is that the turnout in Shelby County was not where it needed to be for either one of these locals to win. And as a result of that, you know, the Democrats have a little egg on their faces, but that could change in 2028.
BLANK: Well, Tennessee Republicans had hoped to gain one congressional seat with these new maps, but they got kind of a surprise when one of those middle Tennessee districts, District 4, went blue by just a couple of hundred votes. And, you know, these have not been certified. But I guess there's this idea, I think, that many people have, that Democrats really only have a chance in either Nashville or Memphis. But this district, District 4, there towns like Murfreesboro and Pulaski. And, you know, what does this tell you about deep red Tennessee?
SANFORD: Well, it tells me that even in deep red Tennessee people can only take so much. And the policies that have been enacted by this presidential administration and rubber stamped by our leadership in Tennessee, the Republican leadership, it has worn thin, Chris. And so, what did the Republicans gain out of this? Absolutely nothing. All they did in gerrymandering the districts was to create confusion and anger for one seat and now it's a wash because of District 4. They should hang their heads in disgrace for what they did here. And I predict that in 2028, if District 4 stays blue and there's a heavy turnout for the presidential election, you might see two blue congressional districts, or three, in 2028.
