Tennessee Senate

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The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the the Tennessee state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly.

The Tennessee Senate, according to the state constitution of 1870, is composed of 33 members, one-third the size of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Senators are to be elected from districts of substantially equal population. According to the constitution a county is not to be joined to a portion of another county for purposes of creating a district; this provision has been overridden by the rulings of the Supreme Court of the United States in Baker v. Carr (369 US 182 1962) and Reynolds v. Sims (337 U.S. 356 1964) The Tennessee constitution has been amended to allow that if these rulings are ever changed or reversed, a referendum may be held to allow the senate districts to be drawn on a basis other than substantially equal population.

Until 1966, Tennessee state senators served two-year terms. That year the system was changed, by constitutional amendment, to allow four-year terms. In that year, senators in even-numbered districts were elected to two-year terms and those in odd-numbered districts were elected to four-year terms. This created a staggered system in which only half of the senate is up for election at any one time. Districts are to be sequentially and consecutively numbered; the scheme basically runs from east to west and north to south.

Republicans attained an elected majority in the Senate in the 104th General Assembly (2005-2006) for the first time since Reconstruction; a brief majority in the 1990s was the result of two outgoing senators switching parties.

The senate elects one of its own members as Speaker; the Speaker automatically becomes Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee. The current Speaker of the Senate and Lieutenant Governor is Republican Ron Ramsey, who was elected to the position in 2007, succeeding John S. Wilder, who had held the post since 1971. Although the Republican Party had attained a one-member majority in the November 2004 election, Wilder, a Democrat, had held his seat due to the support of some Republicans.

[edit] Make up of Tennessee Senate, 105th General Assembly (2007-2008)

Affiliation		Members
	Republican Party	16
	Democratic Party	16
	Independent	1 (as of March 14, 2007)
Total		33
Majority		0

Before March 14, 2007, Republicans held a one-vote majority. The party affiliation and district numbers of Senators are listed after their names in the following list.

District	Name	Party
1st	Steve Southerland	Rep
2nd	Ron Ramsey	Rep
3rd	Rusty Crowe	Rep
4th	Micheal R. Williams	Ind (as of March 14, 2007)
5th	Randy McNally	Rep
6th	Jamie Woodson	Rep
7th	Tim Burchett	Rep
8th	Raymond Finney	Rep
9th	Dewayne Bunch	Rep
10th	Andy Berke^	Dem
11th	Bo Watson	Rep
12th	Tommy Kilby	Dem
13th	Bill Ketron	Rep
14th	Jerry W. Cooper	Dem
15th	Charlotte Burks	Dem
16th	Jim Tracy	Rep
17th	Mae Beavers	Rep
18th	Diane Black	Rep
19th	Thelma Harper	Dem
20th	Joe M. Haynes	Dem
21st	Douglas Henry	Dem
22nd	Rosalind Kurita	Dem
23rd	Jack Johnson	Rep
24th	Roy Herron	Dem
25th	Doug Jackson	Dem
26th	John S. Wilder	Dem
27th	Lowe Finney	Dem
28th	James F. Kyle, Jr.	Dem
29th	Ophelia Ford	Dem
30th	Beverly Marrero	Dem
31st	Paul Stanley	Rep
32nd	Mark Norris	Rep
33rd	Reginald Tate	Dem

^ Berke was elected in a special election to succeed Ward Crutchfield.

Officers

Lieutenant Governor also Speaker of the Senate: Ron Ramsey
Speaker Pro Tem: Rosalind Kurita
Deputy Speaker: Tim Burchett
Republican Leader: Mark Norris
Republican Caucus Chairman: Diane Black
Democratic Leader: James F. Kyle, Jr.
Democratic Caucus Chairman: Joe M. Haynes

[edit] External links

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