List of speakers of the Tennessee House of Representatives

Last updated

The speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the lower chamber of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The speaker is elected by other members of the House for a two-year term. The current Speaker is Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville). Sexton was elected and took over from Acting-Speaker Bill Dunn, who assumed office upon the resignation of Glen Casada, effective August 2, 2019. [1]

Contents

Speakers of the Tennessee House of Representatives [2]
NameTermPartyLifeNotes
David Wilson1794–1795c. 1752–1803Speaker of the Southwest Territory House of Representatives
Joseph Hardin 1795–17961734–1801Speaker of the Southwest Territory House of Representatives
James Stuart1796–1799c. 1751–1816
William Dickson 1799–1803 Democratic-Republican 1770–1816
James Stuart1803–1805c. 1751–1816
Robert Coleman Foster 1805–18071769–1844
John Tipton1807–18091767-1831
Joseph Dickson 1809–1811 Federalist 1745–1825
Thomas Henderson [3] 1811-1812Democratic-Republican1742-c.1827/32
John Cocke 1812–1813Democratic-Republican1772–1854
Thomas Claiborne 1813–1815 Democratic 1780–1856
James Fentress 1815–1817Democratic1763–1843
Thomas Williamson1817–18191767–1825
James Fentress 1819–1825Democratic1763–1843
William Brady1825–1827d. 1835
John H. Camp1827–18291783–1829
Ephraim H. Foster 1829–18311794–1854
Frederick W. Huling1831–1835Democratic
Ephraim H. Foster 1835–1837 Whig 1794–1854
John Cocke 1837–1839Whig1772–1854
Jonas E. Thomas1839–1841Democratic1803–1856
Burchet Douglass1841–1842Whig1793–1849
Franklin Buchanan1842–1843Whigc. 1813–1851
Daniel L. Barringer 1843–1845Whig1788–1852
Brookins Campbell 1845–1847Democratic1808–1853
Franklin Buchanan1847–1849Whigc. 1813–1851
Landon Carter Haynes 1849–1851Democratic1816–1875
Jordan Stokes1851–1853Whig1817–1886
William H. Wisener 1853–1855Whig1812–1882
Neill S. Brown 1855–1857Whig1818–1878
Daniel S. Donelson 1857–1859Democratic1801–1863
Washington C. Whitthorne 1859–1861Democratic1825–1891
Edwin A. Keeble 1861–1862Democratic1807–1868The state government was replaced by a military government in 1862
William Heiskell 1865–1867Conservative Republican1788–1871Confusion over apparent resignation in July 1866 for refusing to sign the 14th Amendment
F.S. Richardson1867–1869 Radical Republican
William O'Neal Perkins1869–1871Conservative Republican1815–1895
James D. Richardson 1871–1873Democratic1843–1914New state constitution adopted in 1870
William S. McGaughey1873–1875Democratic1821–1889
Lewis Bond1875–1877Democratic1839–1878
Edwin T. Taliaferro1877–1879Democratic1849–1919
Henry P. Fowlkes1879–1881Democratic1843–1817
Henry B. Ramsey1881–1883 Republican 1847–1897
Washington L. Ledgerwood1883–1885Democratic1843–1911
James A. Manson1885–1887Democratic1842–1901
Walter L. Clapp1887–1891Democratic1850–1901
Thomas R. Myers1891–1893Democratic1840–1919
Ralph Davis1893Democratic1866–1952
Julius A. Trousdale1893–1895Democratic1840–1899
John A. Tipton1895–1897Democratic1858–1925
Morgan C. Fitzpatrick 1897–1899Democratic1868–1908
Joseph W. Byrns 1899–1901Democratic1869–1936
Edgar B. Wilson 1901–1903Democratic1874–1953
Lawrence Tyson 1903–1905Democratic1861–1929
William K. Abernathy1905–1907Democratic1870–1940
John T. Cunningham1907–1909Democratic1877–1945
Matthew H. Taylor 1909–1911Democratic1884–1965
Albert M. Leach1911–1913Democratic1859–1926
William M. Stanton1913–1915Democratic1890–1957
William P. Cooper 1915–1917Democratic1870–1961
Clyde Shropshire1917–1919Democratic1866–1949
Seth M. Walker1919–1921Democratic1892–1951
Andrew L. Todd Sr. 1921–1923Democratic1872–1945
Frank S. Hall 1923–1925Democratic1890–1958
William F. Barry1925–1927Democratic1900–1967
Selden Maiden1927–1929Democratic1883–1949
Charles H. Love1929–1931Democratic1874–1950
Walter M. Haynes1931–1933Democratic1897–1967
Frank W. Moore1933–1935Democratic1905–1982
Walter M. Haynes1935–1939Democratic1897–1967
John Ed O'Dell1939–1943Democratic1906–1956
James J. Broome1943–1945Democratic1884–1952
George Woods1945–1947Democratic1913–1982
William Buford Lewallen1947–1949Democratic1920–2003
McAllen Foutch1949–1953Democratic1909–1996
James L. Bomar Jr. 1953–1963Democratic1914–2001
Dick Barry 1963–1967Democratic1926–2013
James H. Cummings 1967–1969Democratic1890–1979
Bill Jenkins 1969–1971Republican1936–
James R. McKinney1971–1973Democratic1931–1992
Ned McWherter 1973–1987Democratic1930–2011
Ed Murray 1987–1991Democratic1928–2009
Jimmy Naifeh 1991–2009Democratic1939–
Kent Williams 2009–2011Republican1949–
Beth Harwell 2011–2019Republican1957–First woman to serve as Speaker of the House
Glen Casada 2019Republican1959–Resigned
Cameron Sexton 2019–presentRepublican1970–Elected Speaker on August 23, 2019

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speaker (politics)</span> Presiding officer of a legislative body

The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southwest Territory</span> Territory of the USA from 1790 to 1796

The Territory South of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Southwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1790, until June 1, 1796, when it was admitted to the United States as the State of Tennessee. The Southwest Territory was created by the Southwest Ordinance from lands of the Washington District that had been ceded to the U.S. federal government by North Carolina. The territory's lone governor was William Blount.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee</span> Government official in Tennessee, United States

The Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the Senate of Tennessee is the presiding officer of the Tennessee Senate and first in line in the succession to the office of governor of Tennessee in the event of the death, resignation, or removal from office through impeachment and conviction of the governor of Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennessee House of Representatives</span> Lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly

The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennessee General Assembly</span> Legislative branch of the state government of Tennessee

The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title and office of Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee. In addition to passing a budget for state government plus other legislation, the General Assembly appoints three state officers specified by the state constitution. It is also the initiating body in any process to amend the state's constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennessee Democratic Party</span> Tennessee affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party

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 dominate 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 dominate party in the state. After the war ended, the Republican Party would be the dominate 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Hill</span> American politician

Matthew Joseph Hill is an American talk show host, businessman, and politician who served as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 2005 to 2021. Hill briefly served as Deputy Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives under appointment by House Speaker Rep. Glen Casada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Coleman Foster</span> American politician

Robert Coleman Foster I was a prominent Nashville, Tennessee, attorney and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of Tennessee</span>

The Government of Tennessee is organized under the provisions of the 1870 Constitution of Tennessee, first adopted in 1796. As set forth by the state constitution, administrative influence in Tennessee is divided among three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial.

Richard Glen Casada Jr. is an American politician, and a former Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, where he represented District 63 from 2003 to 2023. He was the Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives from January 8, 2019 through August 2, 2019, whereupon he resigned his post amid scandal. This was the shortest stint of a Tennessee Speaker of the House in modern history. Casada was previously the Majority Leader of the Tennessee House of Representatives. His opposition to Syrian refugees attracted national attention in the media in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameron Sexton</span> American politician (born 1970)

Cameron A. Sexton is an American politician from Tennessee. A Republican, he has been a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives for the 25th District since 2011, and has been the Speaker of the state House since 2019. Before becoming Speaker, Sexton was Majority Caucus Chairman.

Alexander Outlaw (1738–1826) was an American frontiersman and politician, active in the formation and early history of the state of Tennessee. A veteran of the American Revolutionary War, he settled on the Appalachian frontier, in what is now Jefferson County, Tennessee, in the early 1780s. He served simultaneously in the assembly of the failed State of Franklin as well as the legislature of its parent state, North Carolina. He was a delegate to the North Carolina convention that ratified the United States Constitution in 1789, and to the Tennessee state constitutional convention in 1796.

Robin Smith is an American politician who served as the Representative for Tennessee's 26th state house district, beginning in 2018. She is a member of the Republican Party. In March 2022, she resigned and pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Leatherwood</span> American politician

Tom Leatherwood is an American politician serving in the Tennessee House of Representatives from Tennessee's 99th house district, since 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party. The 99th district includes the Northeast part of Shelby County, Tennessee, including the Town of Arlington, City of Lakeland, City of Millington, parts of North and East Bartlett, and unincorporated Northeast Shelby County.

Jerry Sexton is a retired American politician who served as a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Sexton represented Tennessee House District 35, an area in East Tennessee consisting of Grainger, Claiborne, and part of Union counties from 2015 until his retirement following redistricting in 2023. Sexton would be succeeded by several representatives, including Rick Eldridge, Gary Hicks, and Dennis Powers, for Grainger, Claiborne, and Union counties respectively following the dissolution of District 35.

Chris Todd is an American biologist and politician from the state of Tennessee. A Republican, Todd has represented the 73rd district of the Tennessee House of Representatives, based in Jackson, since 2019.

Jay Reedy is an American politician, farmer, and locksmith from the state of Tennessee. A Republican, Reedy has represented the 74th district of the Tennessee House of Representatives, covering Houston, Humphreys, and Montgomery Counties, since 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Tennessee House of Representatives election</span>

The 2022 Tennessee House of Representatives election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect 99 seats for the Tennessee House of Representatives. The elections coincided with the Governor, U.S. House, and State Senate elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Jones (Tennessee politician)</span> American activist and politician (born 1995)

Justin Shea Bautista-Jones is an American activist and politician from the state of Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he serves in the Tennessee House of Representatives for District 52, representing parts of Nashville. As of 2023, Jones is the second youngest member of the State House. He was expelled in April 2023 for violating decorum rules by participating in a gun control protest on the House floor. The Nashville Metro Council voted unanimously to reinstate Jones to serve as an interim representative pending a special election to fill the seat.

References

  1. ↑ "After 3 months of scandal, Glen Casada is no longer speaker of the Tennessee House". The Tennessean .
  2. ↑ "Historical Constitutional Officers Of Tennessee 1796 - Present Territory South Of The River Ohio 1790 - 1796" (PDF). tn.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 12, 2014. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  3. ↑ Cressy-Kent, Rachel (June 15, 2020). Senator Thomas Henderson: A Man Who Helped Make America Great (1742-C. 1827/32). ISBN   9798654105332.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.