Tennessee governor’s voucher election tactics produce unclear mandate

Gov. Bill Lee, accompanied by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, left, at a press conference at which he announced a plan to let parents use public funds for private schools. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Despite gubernatorial backing and massive independent spending, support for private-school vouchers failed to produce a clear mandate in last week’s Republican primary.

It’s an outcome that could come back to haunt Gov. Bill Lee if he’s banking on the shift of students to private schools to cement his political legacy.

In Williamson County’s District 65 state House race, a pro-voucher political action committee poured nearly $1 million into expenditures for Lee Reeves’ campaign, which Lee backed. Yet Reeves won by only 95 votes, picking up 35% of the total, to defeat County Commissioner Brian Beathard. Reeves will be the favorite to claim the seat being vacated by Republican Rep. Sam Whitson, who opposed Lee’s voucher plan to create a universal program providing $7,000 each for every student in the state to enroll in private schools.

Lee’s endorsement of several pro-voucher candidates was considered unusual at best. He picked a winner in Sumner County where Sen. Ferrell Haile rode some $400,000 in donations from Lt. Gov. Randy McNally’s PAC to defeat Chris Spencer, co-founder of the Sumner County Constitutional Republicans.

Gov. Bill Lee put a great deal of energy — followed by dark-money resources — into attacking people who don’t support his private-school voucher plan, which is reportedly bankrupting states such as Arizona.

But Lee took losses in the race between Sen. Jon Lundberg, the Senate Education Committee chairman who carried the Senate version of the voucher bill and fell to Bristol pharmacist Bobby Harshbarger, and longtime Rep. John Ragan of Oak Ridge, who lost to Rick Scarbrough, a veteran police chief.

The Lundberg defeat is likely to be the governor’s biggest drawback because not only could it be one less vote for private-school vouchers but it could cut into the power of Lt. Gov. Randy McNally as he nears the end of his political career.

MTSU political science professor Kent Syler said the primary results don’t indicate any mandate for the governor’s education initiative.

Harshbarger, for instance, benefited from a political action committee’s funding and the support of his mother, U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, who ran ads of her family with an endorsement by former President Donald Trump, indicating he supports her son.

“It looks like a mixed bag where a lot of different issues were at play and … other variables that changed race to race,” Syler says.

In Senate District 8, the Education Freedom Fund, which was funded by the Club for Growth, spent heavily on Jessie Seal, helping him handily beat veteran Sen. Frank Niceley, a voucher opponent.

The PAC spent north of $3.5 million targeting Lee’s voucher opponents.

Niceley, a Strawberry Plains farmer, who supported private-school voucher legislation during the early 1990s as a House member, changed his tune this year.

Count that as a victory for Lee in his voucher quest. But it’s unclear whether the injection of dark money into the campaign was nearly as critical as Niceley’s failure to take his opponent seriously. It appeared, more than anything, that Niceley simply reached the end of his political career.

Lee also picked up a partial-win in East Tennessee’s House District 68 race to replace outgoing Rep. Bryan Richey, who suspended his campaign and was demolished by Tom Hatcher, in a separate Senate race. Hatcher’s position on vouchers is unclear, but heading into election day voucher groups had spent over half-a-million dollars to boost his candidacy. Hatcher disavowed the dark-money spending, according to reports.

Lee also won in Clarksville where newcomer Aron Maberry captured the primary to replace Republican Curtis Johnson, a moderate old-timer.

The governor took a punch to the chin, though, in Anderson County where Republican Rep. John Ragan of Oak Ridge, a staunch voucher proponent, fell to Scarbrough, a former Clinton police chief.

Tom Stinnett dealt the Lee forces a loss, too, in Blount County, narrowly defeating Nick Bright and Jason Emert, the governor’s pick.

Tennesseans for Student Success and Team Kid PAC claimed a victory in Scarbrough’s win. Yet the organization is sitting on the fence when it comes to private-school vouchers, refusing to say it supports Lee’s plan but claiming victories in eight races for candidates who largely supported vouchers.

A press release from the groups says, “Primary results show Tennesseans don’t want to return to a second-rate education,” explaining they are “celebrating the critical role foundational education policies played” in the election results.

Scarbrough’s website mentions no backing for the governor’s proposal, instead touting endorsements from several school board members.

Similarly, Republican candidate Michele Renaeu, who narrowly defeated House finance committee chairwoman Patsy Hazlewood, says on her website she supports “local control” in education but mentions nothing about vouchers. It’s unclear whether she will jump on the governor’s bandwagon.

Both Lee and former Gov. Bill Haslam endorsed Hazlewood, who voted to add Hamilton County to the state’s education savings account program a year ago, chalking up yet another loss for the Lee Administration.

In short, Lee put a great deal of energy — followed by dark-money resources — into attacking people who don’t support his private-school voucher plan, which is reportedly bankrupting states such as Arizona.

The amount of money spent in this year’s primaries left a stench, while Lee’s tacit approval tainted some of the outcomes.

The governor’s credibility is at stake as the general election arrives in November and the Legislature returns to Nashville in January 2025. By then, the governor might not have much of a bully pulpit left to pass a program running into serious problems nationally and roadblocks in rural Tennessee where lawmakers are leery.

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