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Michelle Ye Hee Lee
National business and responsibility company reporter covering money and influence in politics
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Jeanie Brakebill voted for President Trump. But when a conservative solicitor recently appeared at the door of the 63-year-old woman, she confessed that she was tired of Trump's conflictual politics and that she tended to vote Democrat in the upcoming mid-term elections. .
"I would vote for Bredesen, to help Tennessee – even if it meant giving the Democrats a majority in the Senate," Brakebill said, referring to Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen.
The sentiments expressed by Brakebill and voters like it have raised new concerns among Republicans in this deep red state, which overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2016, but in which voters remained split just weeks before a mid-term election. mandate that could determine which party will control the Senate.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (right) is struggling with a tight race against Bredesen, a very popular former governor running on a moderate platform with good will from his eight-year tenure. Recent polls show that Republican voters in Tennessee and the country are increasingly galvanized by the tainted battle of confirmation of the Supreme Court's decision, but GOP strategists have been frustrated by the fact that Blackburn has not took a comfortable lead in the race to replace retired Sen. Bob Corker (R). ).
GOP groups deploy all their arsenal. Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of the conservative Koch network, announced Wednesday a $ 2 million television ad campaign attacking Bredesen, adding to the $ 2.5 million already spent for the race. The Senate Leadership Fund, the GOP's main steering committee in the Senate, which has spent up to $ 2.5 million in state advertising, has announced its intention to spend about $ 3 million in government spending. Here in the fall.
And Blackburn supporters believe that although some voters are angry with the president, Trump's support will increase participation in the GOP base. Trump made his second visit to the state Monday to support Blackburn, stating at a lively rally that a "vote for Marsha is really a vote for me and everything we stand for".
Democratic candidate Phil Bredesen and Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn during a debate in September. (Lacy Atkins / The Tennessean / Associated Press)
Part of the challenge for the Republicans stems from Tennessee's unique policy and the fact that Bredesen, who stepped down in 2011 but remains known every day, is nostalgic for less controversial moments. He is a politician in favor of more in-mold businesses than Corker, a moderate Republican who quarreled with Trump, as Blackburn, deeply conservative and one of the president's most loyal supporters.
"Tennessee has the reputation of being super republican, super conservative, and it's certainly a red state, there is no debate about it," said John Geer, expert in polls and political science and dean from the Faculty of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt University. "But I do not think it's as red as some people think."
Rather than oppose Trump like other Democratic candidates nationwide, Bredesen praised some aspects of the president's agenda, such as his efforts to abolish corporate regulation.
Bredesen is also committed to denying any support to the Senate minority leader, Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Whose name in that state is synonymous with liberal militancy. The disallowance comes despite Bredesen receiving the help of a group aligned with Schumer, the Majority Forward, who spent $ 3.6 million on Tennessee TV commercials, with a reserve of 2.7 million of dollars.
The Conservatives have tried to remind voters that Bredesen's attempt at careful balancing is more difficult in a polarized Washington – an event exposed by the upheaval provoked by Supreme Court candidate Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Political signs before the mid-term elections in Knoxville. (Jessica Tezak / For the Washington Post)
Bredesen refused to say he would vote for or against Kavanaugh – one of the biggest issues faced by moderate Senate Democrats.)
In an interview Wednesday, Bredesen opposed a position on Kavanaugh. But he argued that at age 74, he could be counted on as an independent spokesperson because he had no ambition to hold high office beyond the Senate. He said the fact that the race remains competitive is a sign that his centrist message is appealing to voters across the political spectrum.
"I have to rally the Democrats. I have to convince a group of independents. . . [and] Business [minded] Republicans, "he said. "But I did it as a governor, and I think pretty well. The fact that this campaign is obviously very competitive at the moment is proof of this. "
In Bredesen's equivocation on Kavanaugh, Republicans see an opening to increase support for Blackburn, who said firmly that she would vote to confirm the federal judge. Blackburn refused an interview with the Washington Post.
"It's not about Brett Kavanaugh, but about the raw power of the Democratic Party. . . Brian Hornback, president of the Downtown GOP in Knoxville, said at a committee meeting held at a local restaurant chain in Knoxville.
Yet this is not what the Republicans hoped to be – not in eastern Tennessee, nor in the run-up to election day. At a time when activists hoped to focus more on voter turnout than on persuasion, they contacted hundreds of voters every day in a region that has voted Republican since the civil war.
The battle of the Supreme Court has helped move Blackburn into the ranks of independent and Republican voters who are tired of partisan quarrels, said Tori Venable, director of the Americans for Prosperity campaign, whose activists strive to persuade voters. The group does not give up, as the race remains competitive, she said.
Blackburn praises his conservative good faith and attacks Bredesen's past support for Hillary Clinton and other national Democrats. Her unconditional conservatism – she says in her video announcement that she carries a gun in her purse – feeds the Republican base, which estimates that Blackburn has beaten for their values during of his 16 years in the House.
"I get up every day and I fight for five things: faith, family, freedom, hope and opportunity," Blackburn said during a debate with Bredesen last week. "Tonight, what you saw was a fighter of these rights and individual freedoms, and a group that will support broader solutions for governments and big governments."
The Republican strategy against Bredesen was summed up in an attack announced Wednesday that seeks to link him to leading Democratic lawmakers in Washington and to urge voters to consider a Senate under Democratic control.
"If Phil Bredesen wins, Dianne Feinstein chooses your judges, Bernie Sanders manages the budget and Chuck Schumer manages everything," says the narrator of the Republican National Committee's advertisement to the sound of sinister music.
But connecting Bredesen to the Washington Democrats has proven to be a difficult task. He never sat in Congress and earned a reputation at home that was hard to break for Republicans.
Bredesen's affiliation to the Democratic Party is undoubtedly a compromise for some GOP voters, aware that control of the Senate is at stake, including for some who think he was a decent governor.
"Bredesen was one of the best governors we have ever had. The problem is he's a democrat, "said retired 85-year-old retired and Blackburn supporter, 85-year-old David Singer, after having breakfast at a café in Murfreesboro, about an hour south from Nashville. "I'm afraid to upset the balance between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate."
But while Blackburn inspires the base, it alienates some more moderate Republicans who have grown weary of the Trump brand's inflammatory rhetoric and view it as an extension of polarization in Washington.
Thomas Cigarran, president of the Nashville Predators Hockey Team and long-time GOP donor, said that he and his Republican peers supported Bredesen because they considered Blackburn as the "son of the "Poster" of an ideologue.
"Marsha will vote the party line. That's all, he said. "We already have too many. There is no indication in the 16 years that a change in behavior would be imminent. She is who she is. "
Cigarran organized a fundraiser at his home in Nashville last week to support Bredesen. About 40 of his 50 guests were equally frustrated Republicans, he said.
Another challenge for Blackburn: the lukewarm reaction to Corker's candidacy.
Asked on Wednesday about his campaign plans for Blackburn, Corker said he had participated in a rally and two fundraisers. He said that he would be abroad next Monday but that his wife would attend an event for Blackburn that night.
Anu Narayanswamy contributed to this report.
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