Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jason Martin says that now that he’s won the primary, he’ll work with his former opponents to try to remove Republican Gov. Bill Lee from office.
Martin won the primary by a few hundred votes over JB Smiley Jr., a Memphis Councilmember, and by a much wider margin over Memphis resident Carnita Atwater. Martin credits the close race to the quality of his opponents. They ran on similar issues, like rescinding Tennessee’s restrictive abortion laws, increasing access to healthcare and legalizing marijuana.
Martin, a critical care doctor, says he is now joining forces with those candidates.
“I think we are all singularly focused on advancing the causes of the Democratic Party and beating Bill Lee in November,” said Martin.
That’s a tall order.
Lee was unopposed in the primary but still managed to receive more votes than all the Democrats combined. Tennessee hasn’t elected a Democrat since Phil Bredesen in 2006. And political analysts with Sabato’s Crystal Ball have the race rated as safely Republican.
Correction: This story originally misstated the most recent year in which a Democrat won statewide election. It was 2006, not 2008.
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