Phil Bredesen - Early Political Career

Early Political Career

Bredesen ran his first political campaign in 1969 when he ran for the Massachusetts State Senate seat as a newcomer from Arlington. He was defeated by a popular incumbent Republican Ronald MacKenzie. In 1987 he ran for mayor of Nashville. He finished second to 5th District Congressman Bill Boner, but since Boner only won 42% of the vote, he and Bredesen faced each other in a runoff. Boner won the runoff, largely by emphasizing that he was a Nashville native while Bredesen was a Northerner.

In 1988, he ran in the Democratic primary for the congressional seat left open by Boner's victory – the real contest in a district that had been in Democratic hands since 1875. However, he finished a distant second behind Bob Clement, son of former governor Frank G. Clement. Bredesen ran for mayor again in 1991 and won by a comfortable majority. He was reelected almost as easily in 1995.

As mayor of Nashville, he added more than 440 new teachers, built 32 new schools and renovated 43 others. He also implemented a back-to-basics curriculum to teach students the fundamentals of learning. Additionally, under the Bredesen Administration, the NFL's Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) were brought to Nashville and were furnished with a new stadium; the NHL awarded Nashville its first of four new expansion franchises as the Nashville Predators; a new arena was built; and a new downtown library was built as a cornerstone of major improvements to the entire library system. However, Bredesen's effort to lure the Minnesota Timberwolves NBA franchise to Nashville was not successful.

In 1994, Bredesen won the Democratic nomination for governor and faced Republican 7th District Congressman Don Sundquist in the November general election. The race was initially thought to be one of the hottest races of the cycle, but Sundquist won by a large margin (almost 10 points).

Bredesen did not run for a third term in 1999. The Metro Charter had been amended to limit city council members to two consecutive four-year terms, and was worded in such a way that it appeared to apply to mayors as well. Although mayors had been permitted to serve a maximum of three consecutive terms since the formation of Metro Nashville in 1963, Bredesen did not make an issue of that.