Glen Casada, the Republican representative for Tennessee’s 63rd District (Franklin, Williamson County), has company.
Newcomer Courtenay Rogers, Democrat, plans to make him at least fight for the seat. Casada ran unopposed in 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014.
Rogers hopes to be the first Democrat to represent the 63rd District since Mike Williams in 2000.
She announced her intention to run last week, and held an event in Pinkerton Park on Saturday to gather signatures for her petition to file her candidacy officially. In the heavily Republican 63rd District, she is facing an uphill battle.
But she hopes to challenge Casada with priorities anyone can relate to: “investing in our schools, ensuring balanced growth, improving infrastructure and holding government accountable.”
“As a small business owner and parent, and as a Navy veteran who served during Operation Enduring Freedom, I empathize with the individuals, organizations and businesses that make the 63rd District such a desirable place to work, raise a family and grow a business,” Rogers said in a statement Friday. “They deserve to be fully and honestly represented.”
“It’s time for Williamson County to have a voice for those who live here instead of a small group. I have always believed in holding government officials accountable and real and true transparency. Too often, I think they forget that they were elected by constituents to be the voice for them.”
For a Democrat to win the 63rd District, to put it mildly, is an uphill battle.
And to beat Casada, specifically, may be an even steeper slog. He has held his seat since 2002, winning re-election six times in the heavily Republican Williamson County. First elected in 2001, he parlayed his position as County Commissioner (1994-2001) into the state house. Now he is the Majority Caucus Chairman and sits on six committees (though not on any of the traditional power centers, except possibly Rules, on which he sat for the first time in this most recent session). He has chaired a committee once, Health and Human Resources, in the 2011-12 session. He has enjoyed overwhelming, if at times complacent, support in every election.
In 2014, out of 139,000 registered voters, 27,704 turned out to vote and 24,069 of them voted Republican. Unopposed, Casada took more than 95 percent of the polls, after subtracting write ins. The last time he had a challenger in the general election was 2006, when John Murphy (D) ran- and lost large. With a turnout of about 55 percent, he Casada crushed Murphy by a rough 2- to- 1 margin, 19,258 to 9,245.
Rogers, however, hopes to tap into the largely un-mobilized constituency: There are 139,000 or so registered voters in Williamson County, and in 2014 turnout was only about 20 percent.
Presidential election years tend to bring out the highest local turn out. In 2012, for instance, Williamson County turn out was upwards of 70 percent.
However, only about one in four of the 96,406 voters who came to the polls that year voted anything other than Republican.
The unofficial turnout numbers from the March 1 primary look even worse for a Democratic upset. With a voter turnout of 37.1 percent, 51,748 people voted in the primary. Roughly four out of five of them cast Republican ballots. But the nature of upsets is that they beat long odds, starting with a solid foundation anything is possible.
Rogers, 38, is a small business owner and Navy veteran. But she is also a mom. Her Facebook page and Web site give the impression of a concerned, caring parent and citizen who felt like her voice- and many others- were not being heard. So she decided to do something about it.
“I’m a mom, a veteran, an entrepreneur and a community advocate. I believe in our public schools, investing in smart transit solutions and balanced growth,” she said.
Rogers family is from Franklin and, after graduating from the University of Mississippi with degrees in Naval Science and French, she joined the Navy where she excelled. Serving as the Undersea Warfare Officer on the USS Hopper and as the Public Affairs and Tomahawk Watch Officer during Operation Enduring Freedom. After the Navy she moved eventually back to Franklin.
She will lean in part on her experience running a small business to convince voters; she is president of the Nashville chapter of the American Marketing Association, and co-founded Girls To The Moon, which works to turn girls ages eight to 14 into confident, creative community leaders. Her own daughter, Clair, is in second grade at Moore Elementary.
“In District 63, we do not have a voice. I am not being represented at the state level. There are many people who feel the same way.”
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