Voter Through Congressional District Research the Bipartisan Research Paper

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Voter Through Congressional District Research

The bipartisan structure which defines the American system of democratic governance is premised on the notion that informed voters, when provided with an opportunity to select their own leadership, will invariably alternate between candidates with whom they identify closely, and members of the opposing party who offer meaningful reform. This maxim of American politics has resulted in a pattern of Presidential ascendency whereby neither party has captured the White House in three consecutive elections since the four consecutive campaign victories notched by Franklin Delano Roosevelt more than a half-century ago. Nonetheless, there are still pockets of provincial loyalty which still exist throughout the national electorate, with family histories and cultural touchstones serving to elevate one party above its competition in the hearts and minds of voters. In the second congressional district of Tennessee -- an area which spans the metropolitan borders of Knoxville, as well as the surrounding suburbs of Farragut, Maryville and Powell -- this curious phenomenon of local politics has become engrained in the societal structure, forming a continuous chain of leadership from the district's current representative to his Republican predecessors in 1855. With the election of John James "Jimmy" Duncan, Jr. (R-Knoxville) in 1988 -- and his successful reelection every two years afterward to this day -- the second congressional district of Tennessee has maintained a steady state of Republican representation for more than 150 years. However, this unbroken line of succession has not been mirrored in Tennessee's delegation of U.S. Senators throughout the years, as current Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is just the third GOP member to represent Tennessee in the Senate during the last 100 years. The following analysis of Tennessee's electoral machinations, both on the Congressional and Senatorial level, is intended to examine the array of sociocultural factors which have contributed to the state's decidedly conservative political leaning.

The second congressional district of Tennessee was created on March 4th of 1805, and when the state opted to secede from the Union during the run-up to the Civil War, the seated representative of this district was one of only two in Tennessee to refrain from resigning in allegiance with the Confederacy. After hostilities ceased and the American nation began the arduous efforts of Reconstruction, the largely agrarian, small-scale farming population of the second congressional district aligned itself unequivocally with the Republican Party, an allegiance which has remained unbroken to this day. Voters in the second congressional district of Tennessee pride themselves on consistency, and before Jimmy Duncan, Jr. was elected to represent the state's interests in the House of Representatives, his father John Duncan, Sr. held the seat for more than 23 years (Barone & Cohen, 2005). As the son of one of Tennessee's most respected GOP officials -- in a district which has voted Republican for more than 150 years running -- the younger Duncan was groomed for the political life from a young age, and his conservative roots were deeply planted. As revealed in a comprehensive profile on Duncan's political career published by The American Conservative, the Congressman's son was "a teenaged Goldwater enthusiast, (who) rode a train for 77 hours to the San Francisco convention to serve as an honorary assistant sergeant-at-arms" (Kauffman, 2005) and sent his first paycheck earned working as a grocery store bagboy to support conservative stalwart Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential bid. Duncan went on to earn a law degree from George Washington University Law School in 1973, and he worked as a practicing attorney until 1981 before becoming a state court judge in Knox County. When the elder Duncan passed away suddenly in 1988, his son took up the mantle and entered a special election to replace his late father in the House, an election which he won handily.

Despite not facing a serious reelection challenge during his time in Congress, Duncan has been extremely active on the House floor upon his arrival in Washington, gaining a certain level of fame (or infamy in the eyes of his more hawkish constituents) after he was one of only six House Republicans to vote against authorizing the 2003 War in Iraq (Kauffman, 2005). Duncan's moral stance on unprompted foreign engagement by the American military has been confirmed numerous times throughout his tenure, as Duncan voted against a resolution supporting the war in 2006, and was one of only two Republicans to oppose a 2007 measure to fund the conflict.

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Although these votes have drawn the ire of Tea Party groups throughout the South -- prompting one faction to inform Duncan that he will be facing a Republican primary test in 2014 -- Duncan's steadfast commitment to upholding the values of his constituents has been applauded on a bipartisan level by moderate members on both sides of the aisle.

While the far-right wing of the Republican Party in Tennessee has been hesitant to hold protests against the leadership of Duncan, who hails from a family that is firmly entrenched in the state's political system, the Senate seat held by Lamar Alexander has been targeted of late by local Tea Party activists. Writing in an open letter to Senator Alexander which was published in August, no less than 20 organizations affiliated with the Tennessee Tea Party expressed their mounting dissatisfaction with Alexander's moderate approach to governance, declaring that "during your tenure in the Senate we have no doubt that you voted in a way which you felt was appropriate. Unfortunately, our great nation can no longer afford compromise and bipartisanship, two traits for which you have become famous" (Boles, 2013). This bold challenge from a faction within his own party is practically unprecedented in Tennessee state politics, especially for a respected figure like Alexander, who served as the state's Governor between the years of 1978-1987. As the first Governor of Tennessee to successfully campaign for a second four-year term, Alexander enjoyed a decade of policy-based successes -- enticing Japanese corporations to expand their American operations in the state and implementing the "Better Schools" program among other notable achievements -- but his time in the Senate has been far more controversial (Bill, 2010).

According to voting record analysis conducted by Congressional Quarterly, Alexander ranks as one of the most bipartisan Senators in the Republican caucus (Bill, 2010), and despite his votes in favor of the Iraq War and opposing President Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA), the oldest freshman senator from Tennessee in nearly a century has positioned himself as far too progressive for the increasingly far-right wing, Tea Party-aligned elements within his own party. Several recent decisions made by Alexander have alarmed the hyper-conservative branch of the GOP, and the fact that he "played a key role in July in brokering a bipartisan compromise to resolve a months-long dispute over federally backed student-loan rates … (while) voting in favor of the sweeping immigration bill that passed the Senate in June, and legislation jointly reauthorizing federal policies towards farmers and funding for nutrition programs known as food stamps" (Boles, 2013) has positioned him as an enemy of the Tea Party. Despite the hostility embedded in their open letter, however, these groups have yet to mount a viable opposition campaign, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report recently rated Alexander's seat in the senate as "safe" in terms of potential reelection challenges either during the primary stage or from Democratic opponents.

An objective review of the ratings assessed by the most prominent national interest groups -- including Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), the American Conservative Union (ACU), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the Christian Coalition (CC) -- sheds light on the divergent perceptions of both Duncan and Alexander held among several crucial segments of the electorate. According to the inclusive data compiled by Project Vote Smart, Duncan received a very low rating of just 35% on his positions from the ADA, a national organization committed to the pursuit of progressive liberal policy. While this low rating is considered par for the course coming from a Democratically-oriented interest group, Duncan's rating is actually one of the highest assessed to Republican representatives, indicating that his party affiliation has not hindered Duncan's ability to vote with his conscience. Despite his membership in the Liberty Caucus, Duncan has not been highly rated by the ACLU, and this interest group has approved of only 23% of his policy voting decisions. When rated by traditionally Republican interest groups like the ACU and the CC, however, Duncan's credibility increases significantly, with the ACU issuing a rating of 80% and the CC approving of an astounding 100% of his actions as one of Tennessee's federal representatives. With Duncan's prior opposition to the Iraq War -- an endeavor still widely regarded as justified and successful in the eyes of many Republican voters -- complicating matters somewhat, and examination of Alexander's interest group ratings reveals much about.....

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