Category: Politics Beat Blog

Whatever else money is the root of, it served as root of all rhetoric Saturday night as Shelby County Republicans gathered for their annual Lincoln Day Dinner at Adam’s Mark Hotel, scarcely more than a week after U.S. Senator Fred Thompson‘s sudden withdrawal from a reelection campaign put their party, and the opposition Democrats’, into a turmoil of of opportunity and confusion.

7th District U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant, who was the penultimate speaker of a lengthy evening (introducing U.S. Senat. Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas), named money as a chief concern., accusing “a handful of people” in the Nashville area of trying to handpick a successor to Thompson (read: former Governor Lamar Alexander) and shut off the money supply for other Senate candidates (read: himself).

Asking for money, volunteers, and “prayer,” in that order, Bryant said a contested primary was what American politics was meant to be about, and a race between Republicans would be “good for the party, good for the system, good for Tennessee, and good for America”

Earlier, 4th District U.S. Rep. Van Hilleary — who would address the gathering along with his own GOP primary opponent, former State Rep. Jim Henry of Kingston — had expressed concern that the new attention focused on the Senatorial race in Tennessee, which had galvanized media interest in the nation as well as statewide, might dry up his money supply. “Not in relation to Henry,” said Hilleary, making an effort to dismiss his Republican opponent, “but in relation to Bredesen.” Former Nashville mayor Phil Bredesen is the likely Democratic nominee to oppose Hilleary in the fall if he should prevail, as expected, over Henry.

(Although it was widely noticed last week that Hilleary, who was endorsed by Bryant several weeks ago, had not deigned to return the favor, the Middle Tennessee congressman may have indirectly remedied that Saturday night, presenting Bryant on the dais with an introduction that concluded, “who will make a great U.S. Senator.”)

Money — or the lack of it for state government — also figured as one of the reasons for the absence from the event — perhaps his first ever — of Governor Don Sundquist, one of the founders of Shelby County’s Lincoln Day event several decades ago. The governor, whose name was not mentioned by anyone from the dais, has seen his support among fellow Republicans eroded significantly by his continued advocacy of “tax reform” — and of a state income tax, which figures as the primary element in Sundquist’s proposals.

The governor has continually noted that without a major restructuring of the state’s finances, state government will be faced with drastic reduction of basic services.

“He doesn’t need the abuse,” realtor Betty Smith, who helped Sundquist and others develop the modern Republican Party in Shelby County, said of his absence Saturday night. “He’ll be recognized eventually as a great statesman,” she said.

p>The AP (3/15, Zuckerbrod) reports, “Tipper Gore is weighing an overture from Democrats to run for her husband’s old Senate seat from Tennessee, sources close to her said Thursday. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Democrats urged Mrs. Gore to run after Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., announced last Friday that he would not seek re-election.” One of the sources “said Mrs. Gore was committed to public service and believed she owed it to herself to give some thought to a run.”

Her husband, Al Gore, “held the Senate seat from 1985 to 1993, before becoming vice president. Gore said he would not run for his old seat immediately after Thompson made his announcement.”

One Democratic operative “close to the Gores, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mrs. Gore had received a handful of overtures from Democrats urging her to consider running for the Senate and Mrs. Gore was weighing them.” However, the official “said there was some doubt Mrs. Gore would run, given her tendency to shrink from the limelight during the presidential campaign and her general unease about the national political process.” Still, the official, “said it was telling that Mrs. Gore did not reject the overtures out of hand.”

The New York Post’s (3/15) ‘Page Six’ column reports, “While Al Gore says he’s not interested in running for the Tennessee Senate seat being vacated this year by the GOP’s Fred Thompson, Democratic bigwigs are hoping Al’s wife, Tipper, will allow herself to be drafted.” Tipper “has never had much love for politics, but the chance to follow the wife of her husband’s former running mate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, into the Senate might prove irresistible.”

Until Thompson “formally announced 12 days ago that he was quitting, the Dems hadn’t bothered to put up a serious candidate. But now the seat (vital to the balance of power in the Senate) is considered very winnable, and Tipper would have a great shot at doing just that.”

She’s “popular in the family’s home state and the Gore name is legend there — even if Al couldn’t carry Tennessee in the squeaker presidential election of 2000.” Some in the party are “hoping Hillary can persuade Tipper it’s a good move. The two women actually get on pretty well together, despite the tensions that arose between their husbands, and Hillary can honestly say she’s enjoying her new role as a lawmaker in her own right.”

According to sources, state Senator John Ford is the Ford family pick to succeed U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., now on the verge of a run for the U.S. Senate.

In one of those surprise developments which appear sensible and inevitable once they are thought about, Memphis’ Sen. Ford, who confirms his interest, has become the Ford political clan’s congressional candidate-designate in the increasingly likely event that Rep. Ford actively seeks the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat being vacated by incumbent Republican Fred Thompson.

Thompson, who had been reticent about a reelection bid until the tragic events of September 11th, made a surprise exit from the race last Friday, saying that after the recent death of his 38-year-old daughter, he “didn’t have the heart” to continue. That aroused in a number of political figures long-dormant ambitions that were already close to the surface.

Sources close to key members of the Ford family and aware of their recent deliberations say that Rep. Ford has cast the die and will make the Senate race, although much preliminary work — polls, organizational efforts, establishment of fund-raising machinery, etc. — remains to be done.

Rep. Ford and the Ford clan in general ultimately concluded that he would never face a better opportunity for seeking higher office than now, when the full bloom of his national media celebrity is upon him and an open seat is available; nor would as formidable a candidate in family ranks as Uncle John Ford necessarily be available several years down the line.

For all his eccentricities and numerous brushes with notoriety (including frequent paternity suits, public marital disputes, and brushes with the law on weapons charges, and other matters), the senator is a respected player in Nashville, where he chairs the Senate General Welfare, Health and Human Resources Committee and is a key member of the Finance and State and Local Government committees as well.

Rep. Ford, just back from a fact-finding tour of Afghanistan, spent the weekend calling influential Democrats and sounding them out about his making a race for the Senate this year. One of those called was Mayor Willie Herenton, who reportedly said he would be willing to support the most celebrated current member of a political family, the Fords of Memphis, with whom he has had a running feud.

Speculation on other possible Democratic candidates to succeed Republican senator Thompson continued at a lively pace, with most of it centering on other members of the state’s Democratic congressional delegation.

Of these, the notoriously cautious John Tanner of the 8th District was considered a viable candidate but unlikely to take the gamble of a Senate race. Bart Gordon of the 6th District had not committed himself, while the 5th District’s Bob Clement, who represents Nashville, is in the position of having possibly cried wolf too many times on statewide races, so far exclusively in aborted gubernatorial runs. The Clement camp, however, was putting out firm and decisive-sounding signals about a race.

The names of Bartlett banker Harold Byrd, who recently withdrew from the Shelby County mayor’s race, and state Senator Steve Cohen have received some play, but Cohen indicated it was unlikely he would attempt another statewide race. (He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1994.)

For his part, Byrd has renounced any interest in the 7th District race. He has been more or less incommunicado following the previous week’s emotionally draining decision to terminate his mayoral efforts.

A footnote: One of Byrd’s few appearances since ending his campaign was at the annual awards banquet of the University of Memphis Alumni Association. Cohen was there, too, and attempted, as he later explained, to commiserate with the Bartlett banker. Like Byrd, Cohen has also had an experience or two with what sports broadcaster Jim McKay memorialized as “the agony of defeat.”

Byrd was not having any, however — either because he took Cohen’s manner to be patronizing or because he resented Cohen’s highly public use of his influence on candidate A C Wharton‘s behalf or perhaps for both reasons.

In any case, the Bartlett banker told the state senator, in no uncertain terms, to remove the arm he had draped around Byrd’s shoulder. He further directed Cohen, who had also attempted to address Byrd’s sister Jo Tucker, to “stay away” from members of the Byrd family.

Accounts of the incident varied — some including reports of shoving — but friends of both men suggested that at least superficially cordial relations between the two would resume at some point.

Meanwhile, other Democrats looking at the Senate picture included Memphis entrepreneur John Lowery, an admitted dark horse who is hoping to put his business (Revelation Corporation) on a sound-enough self-sustaining basis in the next month so that he might consider running.

“If none of the congressmen end up doing it, I’m in,” Lowery said over the weekend.

Events since then have probably made that formulation moot. As it happens, an ex-congressman has expressed some interest as well — former U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, now a consultant living in Nashville, who lost the 1994 special election that saw Thompson first elected to the Senate.

And there was Jim Hall, the Chattanoogan who was a key aide to former Governor Ned McWherter and headed the National Transportation Safety Board under former President Clinton.

• The Republican part of the senatorial picture was somewhat clearer. Seventh District U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant eschewed any soul-searching and declared his candidacy on Saturday, thereby beating to the punch by two days former Governor Lamar Alexander, who floated a senatorial trial balloon last year when Thompson first seemed hesitant about running again.

Bryant, whose interest in the position had long been evident, was not exactly enamored of that. The Alexander boom may, in fact, have stemmed from a 2001 poll showing that the former governor and erstwhile presidential candidate would run better against potential Democratic opponents than would Bryant.

U.S. Senator Bill Frist, current head of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, would later acknowledge having given Alexander some encouragement but has, Bryant says, declared a hands-off attitude toward a pending Bryant-Alexander primary, which might be fought out along conservative-vs.-moderate lines (with Bryant the conservative and Alexander the moderate).

Bryant’s chief concern now is the White House, which some observers believe is pressuring him to withdraw from a confrontation with Alexander.

• At least four local congressional hopefuls are all for Bryant’s staying the course of a senatorial campaign.

The latest to put his hat in the ring as a potential successor to Bryant in the 7th District is state Senator Mark Norris of Collierville. And right behind him could be former Shelby County Republican chairman Phillip Langsdon, who of late has been directing the Republican primary efforts of fellow physician George Flinn, a candidate for Shelby County mayor.

Norris, who introduced Bryant to Republican members of the Senate in Nashville on Monday, advised other Shelby Countians interested in running for Bryant’s seat to “keep their powder dry” so as not to split the county’s vote in the newly reapportioned 7th.

Dr. Langsdon, meanwhile, a facial plastic surgeon who served two terms as county GOP chairman during the ’90s, when partisan primaries for countywide offices were introduced and the local Republican Party was in the ascendant, said in a press release that he would be making a decision on running “in the next few days.”

Two other Shelby Countians have designs on the seat — Memphis city councilman Brent Taylor, who has already announced as a G.O.P. candidate, and Memphis lawyer David Kustoff, who has said he plans to once Bryant’s commitment to the Senate race becomes definite.

At least two potential Republican candidates for the seat hail from the Nashville area. They are state Senator Marsha Blackburn and radio talk-show host Steve Gill, both of Williamson County — an archcon-servative suburb of Nashville which was added to the 7th during the most recent congressional reapportionment.

It gets curiouser and curiouser. A day after dissociating himself from any plan to pass off his congressional seat to a covetous Uncle John, and a day before setting off on a Listening Tour of East Tennessee, U.S. Rep. Harold Ford of Memphis says he’d surrender first dibs on a Senate race to his Nashville colleague Bob Clement. Quote: “If he runs, I will support him.”

—J.B.

The following is the press release Wednesday from the Washington officer of Rep. Ford:

FORD STATEMENT

WASHINGTON – Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN) today released the
following statement:

“As Tennessee Democrats search for the best candidate for the U.S. Senate,
many believe — including me — that Bob Clement would make a terrific
candidate and Senator. His commitment to service and name recognition,
combined with his record in office, would make him a great candidate. If he
runs, he will enjoy my support.

“Although any Democratic candidate would start as an underdog, I firmly
believe the election will be decided on the issues that are important to
Tennesseans and their families. On Friday, I will visit East Tennessee to
meet with parents, nurses, truckers, small business people, gun-owners and
farmers to see if there is ground swell for something different in politics.

“The feedback I’m getting is that voters resent having politicians imposed
on them. Tennesseans want to choose, and deserve to choose, their candidates
for public office. This trip across East Tennessee presents another
opportunity to hear from the people and talk with them about the challenges
we face in Tennessee and Washington. I can’t wait to get there.”

Though still not formally a candidate for the U.S. Senate , U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. continued Tuesday to look into preparations for such a race but issued a statement late in the day drawing clear distinctions between his own electoral intentions and those of his uncle, State Senator John Ford, who has indicated he will seek the 9th District congressional seat when and if his nephew chooses to vacate it.

Rep. Ford’s statement reads as follows: “I have no intention of designating or supporting any member of my family, especially Senator John Ford, for the 9th Congressional seat should I decide to run for the U.S. Senate. I was brought up to know that Congressional and, for that matter, all political seats belong to the people, not a family. The people of the 9th Congressional district have blessed me — and my father before — to represent the district for three terms. And if I decide to run for the U.S. Senate, I hope that I am judged by my record and words, and no one else’s. “

The Flyer –or, to assume the right degree of responsibility under the circumstances, I — reported on State Senator Ford’s intentions of running for the congressional seat this week in the context of its reflecting a consensus within the Ford family, and, while the basic information in our report came from a source who has proved unusually reliable in the past, we have no desire to take issue with the congressman or to dispute his statement. We will take him at his word. It is certainly possible that in this case we have been misled.

Certainly Rep. Ford will be running his own race, independently of any other, and we would absolutely agree that not only should he be judged by his own “record and words, and no one else’s,” his career has made it clear that he always has been so judged, both by the general public and the media reporting on him.

Moreover, unlike his father, former Rep. Harold Ford Sr., the current congressman has not made a habit during election seasons of publishing and distributing sample paper ballots recommending to voters his own slate of choices.

We would go further and acknowledge instances of intra-family diversity like the current Shelby County Commission race featuring two Ford siblings — Joe Ford and Ophelia Ford — vying for the same position, or the several cases in the past, notably the 1994 Shelby County mayor’s race, in which the positions of members of the family — in that case, John Ford and brother Harold Ford Sr. — conspicuously and widely differed.

Even so, the Ford political clan would not have held the offices it has over a quarter-century nor continued to enjoy the influence which it does without a striking degree of solidarity, and that fact is the rule rather than the exception.

It is well known, for example, that former city councilman Joe Ford, now an interim county commissioner , was formerly regarded as the family’s preferred candidate to seek the 9th District seat in the event of the sort of senatorial vacancy which has now taken place.

The former congressman and clan patriarch, Harold Ford Sr., openly acknowledged as much to friends and intimates.

Indeed, there is much speculation at the moment, particularly in light of Rep. Ford’s most recent statement, that Joe Ford will in effect switch races and himself become a candidate for Congress in the event of the current’s congressman’s making a senatorial race.

There are some who have interpreted Rep. Ford’s statement as not only a denial of an understanding with his uncle but as an explicit repudiation of State Senator Ford. Perhaps they are right.

Perhaps Rep. Ford, who has spoken with his family’s erstwhile political nemesis, Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, and asked for the mayor’s support of his senatorial bid, is especially intent on assuring the mayor of his neutrality concerning a prospective 9th District race.

Perhaps, as Rep. Ford’s statement suggests, he has renounced as undemocratic any idea that the family’s nearly 30-year presence in the 9th District congressional seat is the basis for any kind of claim.

Perhaps State Sen. Ford, who has made no secret in the last couple of days — both in Memphis and in Nashville — of his desire to run for Congress, has floated a trial balloon of his own that was wafted in our direction under false colors. Perhaps he or our principal source, or both, were themselves the victims of a misunderstanding. Or perhaps there is still more to all this than has so far met the eye — or been contained within the terse formulations of a press release.

Whatever the case, Rep. Ford should know that, in our experience, he has never been affected one way or another, for better or for worse, by the perceived public reputations of any of his near relations.

This fact attests to a unique quality, persistently noted (if not totally accounted for) by the national media, and to a special momentum that together have brought him to the current pass, to the brink of a Senate race whose outcome no poll or demographic fact could possibly predict and no fact of blood relationship could conceivably inflect.

If he flies, it will be because he, like the bumblebee, is meant to fly , not because of any of the usual standard measures of such things.

(See also ‘Going For It,’ a companion article.)

Though still not formally a candidate for the U.S. Senate , U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. continued Tuesday to look into preparations for such a race but issued a statement late in the day drawing clear distinctions between his own electoral intentions and those of his uncle, State Senator John Ford, who has indicated he will seek the 9th District congressional seat when and if his nephew chooses to vacate it.

Rep. Ford’s statement reads as follows: “I have no intention of designating or supporting any member of my family, especially Senator John Ford, for the 9th Congressional seat should I decide to run for the U.S. Senate. I was brought up to know that Congressional and, for that matter, all political seats belong to the people, not a family. The people of the 9th Congressional district have blessed me — and my father before — to represent the district for three terms. And if I decide to run for the U.S. Senate, I hope that I am judged by my record and words, and no one else’s. “

The Flyer –or, to assume the right degree of responsibility under the circumstances, I — reported on State Senator Ford’s intentions of running for the congressional seat this week in the context of its reflecting a consensus within the Ford family, and, while the basic information in our report came from a source who has proved unusually reliable in the past, we have no desire to take issue with the congressman or to dispute his statement. We will take him at his word. It is certainly possible that in this case we have been misled.

Certainly Rep. Ford will be running his own race, independently of any other, and we would absolutely agree that not only should he be judged by his own “record and words, and no one else’s,” his career has made it clear that he always has been so judged, both by the general public and the media reporting on him.

Moreover, unlike his father, former Rep. Harold Ford Sr., the current congressman has not made a habit during election seasons of publishing and distributing sample paper ballots recommending to voters his own slate of choices.

We would go further and acknowledge instances of intra-family diversity like the current Shelby County Commission race featuring two Ford siblings — Joe Ford and Ophelia Ford — vying for the same position, or the several cases in the past, notably the 1994 Shelby County mayor’s race, in which the positions of members of the family — in that case, John Ford and brother Harold Ford Sr. — conspicuously and widely differed.

Even so, the Ford political clan would not have held the offices it has over a quarter-century nor continued to enjoy the influence which it has without a striking degree of solidarity, and that fact is the rule rather than the exception.

It is well known, for example, that former city councilman Joe Ford, now an interim county commissioner , was formerly regarded as the family’s preferred candidate to seek the 9th District seat in the event of the sort of senatorial vacancy which has now taken place.

The former congressman and clan patriarch, Harold Ford Sr., openly acknowledged as much to friends and intimates.

Indeed, there is much speculation at the moment, particularly in light of Rep. Ford’s most recent statement, that Joe Ford will in effect switch races and himself become a candidate for Congress in the event of the current’s congressman’s making a senatorial race.

There are some who have interpreted Rep. Ford’s statement as not only a denial of an understanding with his uncle but as an explicit repudiation of State Senator Ford. Perhaps they are right.

Perhaps Rep. Ford, who has spoken with his family’s erstwhile political nemesis, Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, and asked for the mayor’s support of his senatorial bid, is especially intent on assuring the mayor of his neutrality concerning a prospective 9th District race.

Perhaps State Sen. Ford, who has made no secret in the last couple of days Though still not formally a candidate for the U.S. Senate , U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. continued Tuesday to look into preparations for such a race but issued a statement late in the day drawing clear distinctions between his own electoral intentions and those of his uncle, State Senator John Ford, who has indicated he will seek the 9th District congressional seat when and if his nephew chooses to vacate it.

Rep. Ford’s statement reads as follows: “I have no intention of designating or supporting any member of my family, especially Senator John Ford, for the 9th Congressional seat should I decide to run for the U.S. Senate. I was brought up to know that Congressional and, for that matter, all political seats belong to the people, not a family. The people of the 9th Congressional district have blessed me — and my father before — to represent the district for three terms. And if I decide to run for the U.S. Senate, I hope that I am judged by my record and words, and no one else’s. “

The Flyer –or, to assume the right degree of responsibility under the circumstances, I — reported on State Senator Ford’s intentions of running for the congressional seat this week in the context of its reflecting a consensus within the Ford family, and, while the basic information in our report came from a source who has proved unusually reliable in the past, we have no desire to take issue with the congressman or to dispute his statement. We will take him at his word. It is certainly possible that in this case we have been misled.

Certainly Rep. Ford will be running his own race, independently of any other, and we would absolutely agree that not only should he be judged by his own “record and words, and no one else’s,” his career has made it clear that he always has been so judged, both by the general public and the media reporting on him.

Moreover, unlike his father, former Rep. Harold Ford Sr., the current congressman has not made a habit during election seasons of publishing and distributing sample paper ballots recommending to voters his own slate of choices.

We would go further and acknowledge instances of intra-family diversity like the current Shelby County Commission race featuring two Ford siblings — Joe Ford and Ophelia Ford — vying for the same position, or the several cases in the past, notably the 1994 Shelby County mayor’s race, in which the positions of members of the family — in that case, John Ford and brother Harold Ford Sr. — conspicuously and widely differed.

Even so, the Ford political clan would not have held the offices it has over a quarter-century nor continued to enjoy the influence which it has without a striking degree of solidarity, and that fact is the rule rather than the exception.

It is well known, for example, that former city councilman Joe Ford, now an interim county commissioner , was formerly regarded as the family’s preferred candidate to seek the 9th District seat in the event of the sort of senatorial vacancy which has now taken place.

The former congressman and clan patriarch, Harold Ford Sr., openly acknowledged as much to friends and intimates.

Indeed, there is much speculation at the moment, particularly in light of Rep. Ford’s most recent statement, that Joe Ford will in effect switch races and himself become a candidate for Congress in the event of the current’s congressman’s making a senatorial race.

There are some who have interpreted Rep. Ford’s statement as not only a denial of an understanding with his uncle but as an explicit repudiation of State Senator Ford. Perhaps they are right.

Perhaps Rep. Ford, who has spoken with his family’s erstwhile political nemesis, Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, and asked for the mayor’s support of his senatorial bid, is especially intent on assuring the mayor of his neutrality concerning a prospective 9th District race.

Perhaps State Sen. Ford, who has made no secret in the last couple of days — both in Memphis and in Nashville — of his desire to run for Congress, has floated a trial balloon of his own that was wafted in our direction under false colors. Perhaps he or our principal source, or both, were themselves the victims of a misunderstanding. Or perhaps there is still more to all this than has so far met the eye — or been contained within the terse formulations of a press release.

Whatever the case, Rep. Ford should know that, in our experience, he has never been affected one way or another, for better or for worse, by the perceived public reputations of any of his near relations.

This fact attests to a unique quality, persistently noted (if not totally accounted for) by the national media, and to a special momentum that together have brought him to the current pass, to the brink of a Senate race whose outcome no poll or demographic fact could possibly predict and no fact of blood relationship could conceivably inflect, one way or another.

If he flies, it will be because he, like the bumblebee, is meant to fly , not because of any of the usual standard measures of such things.

(See also ‘Going For It,’ a companion article.) both in Memphis and in Nashville — of his desire to run for Congress, has floated a trial balloon of his own that was wafted in our direction under false colors. Perhaps he or our principal source, or both, were themselves the victims of a misunderstanding. Or perhaps there is still more to all this than has so far met the eye — or been contained within the terse formulations of a press release.

Whatever the case, Rep. Ford should know that, in our experience, he has never been affected one way or another, for better or for worse, by the perceived public reputations of any of his near relations.

This fact attests to a unique quality, persistently noted (if not totally accounted for) by the national media, and to a special momentum that together have brought him to the current pass, to the brink of a Senate race whose outcome no poll or demographic fact could possibly predict and no fact of blood relationship could conceivably inflect, one way or another.

If he flies, it will be because he, like the bumblebee, is meant to fly , not because of any of the usual standard measures of such things.

(See also ‘Going For It,’ a companion article.)

L to R: Norris, Langsdon, Taylor, Kustoff

State Senator Mark Norris of Collierville has become the latest entry (though as yet an unofficial one) in the race to succeed 7th District U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant, who has announced for the now open U.S. Senate seat of Fred Thompson.

And former Shelby County Republican chairman Phillip Langsdon may be right behind him.

Norris, who planned to be introducing Bryant to Republican members of the Senate in Nashville on Monday, advised other Shelby Countians interested in running for Bryant’s seat to “keep their powder dry” so as not to split the county’s vote in the newly reapportioned 7th.

Dr. Langson, meanwhile, a facial plastic surgeon who served two terms as county GOP chairman duroing the ’90s, said in a press release that he would be making a decision on running “in the next few days.”

Two other Shelby Countians have designs on the seat — Memphis city councilman Brent Taylor, who has already announced as a G.O.P. candidate, and Memphis lawyer David Kustoff, who has said he plans to.

At least two potential Republican candidates for the seat hail from the Nashville area. They are State Senator Marsha Blackburn and radio talk show host Steve Gill, both of Williamson County.