Tennessee Legislators Advance Bill To Partially End Direct Election Of Senators
Posted in: Today's ChiliA Tennessee state Senate committee voted Tuesday to advance legislation that would partially end the direct election of U.S. senators in the state.
The bill would end party primaries for Senate seats and allow the Democratic and Republican caucuses in the state Legislature to pick their party’s nominees for the seats. The Associated Press reported that the Senate State and Local Government Committee voted 7-1 to advance the bill to the full Senate for consideration. U.S. senators have been directly elected since 1913 — until then, state legislatures picked all senators.
State Sen. Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains), the bill’s sponsor, told knoxnews.com in January that the legislation would allow for the state to have more qualified Senate candidates, along with reducing extremist candidates and easing the need to raise funds.
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