Philip Norman Bredesen Jr. (21 November 1943-) was Governor of Tennessee (D) from 18 January 2003 to 15 January 2011, succeeding Don Sundquist and preceding Bill Haslam. In 2018, he ran for the US Senate, facing Republican opponent Marsha Blackburn. Bredesen was known as a moderate populist conservative, and his crossover appeal was shown when he won the 2006 gubernatorial election with 68% of the vote and the support of every county.
Biography[]
Phil Bredesen was born in Oceanport, New Jersey in 1943, and he grew up near Rochester, New York. He then did classified work for Itek in Lexington, Massachusetts, receiving a draft deferment during the Vietnam War. In 1969, he launched a failed run for the Massachusetts State Senate, and he went on to enter the pharmaceutical industry. In 1975, Bredesen and his family moved to Tennessee, and he served as the Democratic Mayor of Nashville from 1991 to 1999. In 1994, he unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Tennessee, but he won the 2002 election with over 50% of the vote. He was known as a moderate Democrat, and he enacted spending cuts and sought to improve education, job growth, and the war on drugs. In 2006, he was re-elected with 68% of the vote, winning every county in his state. He left office in 2011, and he ran for the US Senate in 2018, with retiring Senator Bob Corker, a Republican, announcing that he would not campaign against Bredesen; Corker and Bredesen cooperated well, Bredesen had crossover appeal, and he was a very good mayor, governor, and businessperson. However, he lost to Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn in a crushing defeat for the Democrats.