Mackler (l), Bredesen
James Mackler, the Nashville attorney and Iraq War vet who, months ago, declared as a Democratic candidate for the Tennessee U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Bob Corker, has faced the reality that last week’s declaration of candidacy by former Governor Phil Bredesen had closed off his available routes to financial support.
Accordingly, Macler issued a press release on Thursday announcing his withdrawal from the Senate race. “The political environment has changed … and we cannot risk any distractions in our fight to defeat Marsha Blackburn’s extreme agenda,” Mackler’s statement read in part. “It is in this spirit of unity, not further division, that I am making the choice to step back as a candidate at this time to put us all on the path to victory.”
Mackler said he would continue to maintain his “Believe in Service” political action committee, which Bredesen made a point of commending, along with Mackler himself.
Although he had not yet achieved full statewide name recognition, Mackler, who had mounted his candidacy well before Corker’s withdrawal from the race, had raised some $1 million and had begun developing a viable profile, especially among millenials.
But Bredesen, who served two terms as Tennessee Governor from 2003 to 2011 had been assiduously courted to run by establishment Democrats, both in-state and out, who felt that, as the last Democrat to be elected statewide, he had the best chance of contesting for the now open Senate seat against either of the two name Republicans now seeking it — 7th District U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn o former 8th District congressman Stephen Fincher.
Despite a cost-conscious tenure as Governor which was widely regarded as centrist enough to have enacted significant portions of the then Republican platform, Bredesen has become a virtual daily target of official Republican broadsides attempting to portray him as a “big spender” Democrat and a liberal — neither of which things he ever came close to being.
In fact, the former Governor’s penchant, both in office and in his gubernatorial campaigns, for proposing relatively conservative compromise solutions was one of the major factors that won him significant crossover support.
