Ken Givens | |
---|---|
34th Commissioner of Agriculture of Tennessee | |
In office January 18, 2003 –January 15, 2011 | |
Governor | Phil Bredesen |
Preceded by | John W. Rose |
Succeeded by | Julius Thomas Johnson |
Tennessee Representative for the Ninth State House District | |
In office January 1989 –May 2002 | |
Preceded by | Bruce Hurley |
Succeeded by | Mike Harrison |
Personal details | |
Born | Rogersville, Tennessee, USA | October 1, 1947
Political party | Democratic Party |
Alma mater | East Tennessee State University |
Profession | Farmer, real estate |
Ken Givens (born October 10, 1947) is a Tennessee politician from Rogersville, Tennessee. [1] From 1988-2002, Givens was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing the Ninth State House District. [1] In 2003, he was appointed by Governor Phil Bredesen to be the 34th Commissioner of Agriculture of Tennessee, a Cabinet-level position in the gubernatorial administration responsible for overseeing the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.
Givens was born in Rogersville, Tennessee, in 1947 to tobacco and dairy cattle farmers from Hawkins County. [1] He attended Rogersville City School and Rogersville High School, graduating from high school in 1965. Givens served in the United States Army, from which he was honorably discharged.
Givens operates a tobacco and cattle farm in Hawkins County and was involved in real estate in Rogersville and northeast Tennessee.
In 1988, Givens was elected to the 96th General Assembly as the Democratic Representative for the Ninth State House District, which is presently composed of Hancock County and part of Hawkins County. [1]
Givens served in the 96th through the 102nd General Assemblies, elected to seven two-year terms. In 1997, Givens was appointed chairman of the Agriculture Committee in the Tennessee House, a position which he held for the rest of his time in the General Assembly. [1]
Givens retired from the General Assembly in 2002 after fourteen years of service.
In 2003, Governor Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, appointed Givens to be the 34th Commissioner of Agriculture of Tennessee.
As Commissioner of Agriculture, Givens had direct oversight of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. He was an ex officio, voting member of Board of Trustees of the University of Tennessee, the Board of Regents of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee, and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission.
In 2004, Governor Bredesen appointed Givens to chair the Governor's Task Force on Methamphetamine Abuse. Givens was also appointed to the Tennessee Homeland Security Council, which advised the Governor on state-wide security concerns.
Hawkins County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 56,721. Its county seat is Rogersville. Hawkins County is part of the Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area, commonly known as the "Tri-Cities" region.
Rogersville is a town in and the county seat of Hawkins County, Tennessee, United States. It was settled in 1775 by the grandparents of Davy Crockett. It is named for its founder, Joseph Rogers. Tennessee's second oldest courthouse, the Hawkins County Courthouse, first newspaper The Knoxville Gazette, and first post office are all located in Rogersville. The Rogersville Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The governor of Tennessee is the head of government of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor is the only official in the Tennessee state government who is directly elected by the voters of the entire state.
Philip Norman Bredesen Jr. is an American politician and businessman who served as the 48th governor of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected in 2002 with 50.6% of the vote and re-elected in 2006 with 68.6%. He served as the 66th mayor of Nashville from 1991 to 1999. Bredesen is the founder of the HealthAmerica Corporation, which he sold in 1986. He is the last Democrat to win and/or hold statewide office in Tennessee.
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The 2006 Tennessee gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006, to elect the governor of Tennessee, alongside other state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic governor Phil Bredesen was re-elected to a second term with 68.6% of the vote, defeating his Republican challenger Jim Bryson. Improving on his performance from 2002, Bredesen also carried every county in the state.
Frank S. Niceley is a Republican member of the Tennessee State Senate representing the 8th district, consisting of Claiborne, Grainger, Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson and Union counties.
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The Rogersville Review is a twice-weekly newspaper publishing in Rogersville, Tennessee, United States.
Overton Lodge No. 5 is a Freemason lodge under the Grand Lodge of Tennessee. Overton Lodge is located on the Courthouse Square in Rogersville Historic District in downtown Rogersville, Tennessee in the United States.
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.
The Rogersville Historic District is a historic district in Rogersville, Tennessee, the county seat of Hawkins County. It is both a local historic district and a National Register of Historic Places historic district.
Dolores Gresham is a Republican politician from Tennessee. She is a former state senator. Gresham was elected to the Tennessee Senate in the 2008 elections after having served three terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives. Senate District 26 encompassed the counties of Chester, Crockett, Fayette, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, McNairy and Wayne in the western part of the state.
Matthew Harris "Matt" Kisber is a businessman and Democratic politician in the U.S. state of Tennessee who served ten two-year terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives and was Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development during the governorship of Phil Bredesen.
The 2002 Tennessee gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 2002, to elect the next governor of Tennessee, alongside other state and local elections. Incumbent Republican governor Don Sundquist was term-limited and was prohibited by the Constitution of Tennessee from seeking a third consecutive term. To succeed him, former Democratic Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen, who had run against Sundquist in 1994, narrowly defeated Republican United States Congressman Van Hilleary in the general election.
The 2018 United States Senate election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 2018, concurrently with other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican senator Bob Corker opted to retire instead of running for a third term. Republican U.S. representative Marsha Blackburn won the open seat, defeating former Democratic governor Phil Bredesen.