Understanding Tennessee's Racial Realignment and Political Polarization: An Examination of Tennessee Gubernatorial Elections, 1932-2018. by Luke Aaron Arnold A thesis presented to the Honors College of Middle Tennessee State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from the University Honors College Spring 2021 Understanding Tennessee's Racial Realignment and Political Polarization: An Examination of Tennessee Gubernatorial Elections, 1932-2018. By Luke Aaron Arnold APPROVED: ______________________________________ Dr. Jessica Hejny, Thesis Co-Director Professor, Political Science and International Relations ______________________________________ Mr. James Syler, Thesis Co-Director Professor, Political Science and International Relations ______________________________________ Dr. Ennio Piano, Thesis Committee Chair Professor, Economic and Finance ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Dr. Jessica Hejny. When I had too many questions and was unsure of a path forward, you worked with me, helping me sort through ideas and strategies. Without your support, I would still be lost, and this would not have been possible. I also had the great pleasure of learning from long-time political strategist Kent Syler. A person can look at newspaper articles all day. However, the value of having an experienced political veteran review for inaccuracies cannot be understated when trying to ensuring an accurate account of the historical-political landscape. Thank you for always providing your perspective. Special thanks to Dr. Sekou Franklin, Chris Sanders, and Adam Haynes, who all helped provide valuable information and insight into the often-unaddressed factors that helped fill in the greater picture of Tennessee politics. You all have extensive political experience, so I thank you for providing much-needed perspective and guidance. I am incredibly grateful to my friends and family who were supportive of me throughout the entire process, even when I tested their patience, often rambling about yet another political trend I was beginning to unravel. Thank you for letting me voice my ideas because it certainly made the entire research process more manageable. Lastly, I cannot begin to express my deepest thanks to my father, Edwin Eblen Arnold Jr. Thank you for the love, wisdom, and encouragement you provided, all while trying to navigate as a single father. There is so much more I could say, but I think this puts iii it best. You are my favorite hiking partner, a personal inspiration, and the best friend I will ever have. Thank you for everything, and I hope you never forget how much you are loved. iv ABSTRACT This thesis seeks to compare Tennessee Gubernatorial Elections to overall political trends to explain further how Tennessee is unique compared to the rest of the south regarding its racial realignment and political polarization. Chapter 1 examines the individual dynamics of Tennessee gubernatorial elections. Gubernatorial elections are non- federal state-wide races, which provides a precise measure of Tennessee’s political landscape. Chapter 2 looks at the evolving political atmosphere beyond gubernatorial elections to help highlight more overall shifts. Lastly, Chapter 3 provides an analysis of why politics in Tennessee is unique and explains the impacts. Tennessee avoided militarized control under the Reconstruction Act. Democrats continuously relied on black primary voters, and after Brown v. Board and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Democrats pivoted toward desegregation. As Republicans advanced, the Tennessee Democratic Party failed to change its strategy. Tennessee’s geography, racial toleration, and moderate desire make it unique in a landscape of southern states. Keywords: Tennessee, Elections, Politics, Gubernatorial, Race, Realignment, Polarization v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS….………………………..…………………………………...iii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………….....v INTRODUCTION….…………………………………………………….……………….1 CHAPTER I: TENNESSEE GUBERNATORIAL HISTORICAL ANALYSIS…….…..5 CHAPTER II: THE OVERALL POLITICAL SHIFTS…………………………..……..66 CHAPTER III: ANALYSIS OF TENNESSEE’S UNIQUE DYNAMICS...….……….123 CONCLUSION….……………………………………………………………………...131 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………134 vi INTRODUCTION The story of how the south when through its racial realignment and political polarization over the 20th and 21st centuries has been told numerous times, but the unique dynamics of Tennessee have often been overlooked. Tennessee has three grand divisions based on geographical characteristics that suggest a difference in political perspective that had to impact the perspective state-wide elections would reveal. Additionally, Tennessee was the last state to join the confederacy in the Civil War and the first to be readmitted into the Union. They also have a historical perception of being a moderate shift, and this research is needed to explain how that can be reconciled with the changing shifts one can notice living in the state itself. Throughout my research, I continuously worked to answer the following question. What makes Tennessee specifically unique compared to the overall southern racial realignment and political polarization that occurred between the 20th and 21st centuries at the regional and national level. Tennessee gubernatorial elections were chosen to best reveal the influencing trends of these state-wide elections while avoiding the inherent local or national implications associated with other Tennessee elections. In order to answer this question, I chose to break my thesis into three separate chapters. In the first chapter, I am working to explain what is happening within the individual Tennessee gubernatorial elections while also examining the overall trends that occur within four separate time periods. To analyze these trends, I relied on two main points of research. For sections prior to 1970, I relied on examining the academic literature on 1 candidates during their administrations and elections. However, after 1970 I pivot to conducting primary research using archival analysis of newspaper coverage of Tennessee gubernatorial elections and use secondary political science sources to build the larger historical narrative. Regarding Chapter two, I focus on building my overall national, southern, regional, and Tennessee specific narrative by using both secondary political science sources and published works to build a comprehensive explanation to show the reader what dynamics were occurring at higher levels to reveal how Tennessee is unique in the greater political context. Tennessee was the first state to ratify the 14th amendment leading them to avoid militarized control of the state under the later passed Reconstruction Act. As a result, they faced less racial resentment, and while they still viewed the races as unequal, they provided less strict voter discrimination laws than the traditional Jim Crow Laws of the South. With fewer restrictions, Democratic Boss Edward Crump in West Tennessee was able to control the Democratic Primary by offering support to black republicans that voted for Crump's candidate in the primary and allowing them to vote again in the general election for whomever they want. With Crump offering support during the Great Depression, Crump was able to extend influence on who won the gubernatorial races by providing a paternalistic relationship Tennesseans grew to appreciate after little action left them distraught. When Tennessee changed its constitution in 1953 to shift gubernatorial terms from unlimited consecutive two-year terms to unlimited non-consecutive four-year terms, this made the incumbent effect stronger in the state since a two-decade political partnership developed between Democrats Clement and Ellington. As Clement and Ellington 2 maintained their power and helped ingrain support for incumbents, they also both went against the positioning of other southern Democrats during the civil rights movement. After the Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Gov. Frank Clement and Buford Ellington both respectively flipped on their previous segregationist position to unapologetically accept and encourage the transition toward gradual integration. Paired with Gov. Ellington failing to build Democratic Party support when Republicans saw advancements with Richard Nixon and Shelby County development of a local party structure, Tennessee Republicans were well-positioned for the 1970 gubernatorial election. Former Democrat Winfield Dunn built up the Shelby County Republican Party leading him to win both the primary and the general election, given all the perfect factors for success. As a competitive Republican Party emerges, Tennessee politicians largely avoid the issue of race moving forward. Seeing that neither party wants to risk losing the general election by taking a stance, Tennessee saw a focus on issues of business records, and accusations of scandal proved to be most salient. Unlike other southern states, both political parties were largely moderate in position, so they had few disagreements on the pure substance of policy. Moderate Republican Lamar Alexander, who was popular amongst both parties in his 1982 re-election campaign, and Tennessee Speaker of the House Democrat Ned McWherter, who ran for governor in 1986 on his record of supporting Gov. Alexander to help Tennesseans without partisan arguments, were able respectively to win in a period where conservative Republicans were dominating the south. 3 As Ronald Reagan