Justin Lafferty | |
---|---|
Member of the TennesseeHouseofRepresentatives from the 89th district | |
Assumed office January 8, 2019 | |
Preceded by | Roger Kane |
Personal details | |
Born | May 13,1971 |
Political party | Republican |
Children | 1 |
Residence | Knoxville,Tennessee |
Education | University of Tennessee (BS) |
Website | Official website Campaign website |
Justin Augustus Lafferty (born May 13,1971) is an American politician from the state of Tennessee. A Republican,Lafferty has represented the 89th district of the Tennessee House of Representatives,based in the western suburbs of Knoxville,since 2019. [1] [2]
In 2018,Roger Kane announced his retirement from the 89th district of the Tennessee House of Representatives,and a crowded field formed to replace him. Lafferty,a stay-at-home father and a landlord,was considered a significant underdog against several of his competitors,including former Knox County sheriff Tim Hutchison and former state senator Stacey Campfield. However,Lafferty outpolled both to win the primary with just over 30% of the vote. [3] In the strongly Republican suburban seat,Lafferty went on to soundly win the general election over Democrat Coleen Martinez,64-36%. [4]
On May 4,2021,Lafferty made a speech on the Tennessee House floor in defense of the Three-fifths Compromise,a provision of the original U.S. Constitution resulting from a 1787 agreement between northern and southern states,providing that three-fifths of a state's slave population would be counted for representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. The compromise is regarded as one of the most racist deals among the states during the country's founding. Lafferty inaccurately claimed in his speech that the three-fifths compromise was adopted for "the purpose of ending slavery." [5] [6] [7]
In 2023,Lafferty supported resolutions to expel three Democratic lawmakers from the legislature for violating decorum rules. [8] [9]
Lafferty lives in Knoxville with his wife and daughter. [10]
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly,the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.
The Tennessee Democratic Party (TNDP) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in Tennessee. The party was founded in 1826 initially as the Jacksonian Party. The Tennessee Democratic Party was born out of President Andrew Jackson's populist philosophy of Jacksonian democracy in the mid to late-1820s. After Jackson left office,the Democratic Party struggled in the state as the Whig Party would go on to be the dominant party in Tennessee until its collapse after the 1852 Election. Prior to the Civil War,as a result of the collapse of the former Whig Party,the Democratic Party became the dominant party in the state. After the war ended,the Republican Party would be the dominant political party during Reconstruction,but once Reconstruction ended,the Democratic Party would dominate Tennessee Politics up until 2011 when the Republican Party would gain firm control of Tennessee State Government.
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