Tennessee State Senator Michael R. Williams was re-elected in November 2004 to the State Senate, 4th district. He was unopposed. However, on March 14, 2007, he declared that he was leaving the Republican Party and had become an independent. He will run for re-election next year as an independent. The Democratic Party will attempt to discourage any Democrat from running against Williams, but Republicans are already declaring their candidacy to run against him.
Tennessee does not have registration by party, so the only way anyone establishes being an independent is by what he or she says publicly. Fortunately for Williams, Tennessee does not have a straight-ticket device on November ballots. The 4th district is in the eastern, mountainous end of Tennessee, and is in the part of the state that has been strongly Republican ever since the Civil War.
If Williams is re-elected as an independent, he will be the first person to win a Tennessee legislative election as an independent since 1982.
Running as an independent in Tennessee is very confusing. In 1972, William Davis won as a state senator and was the only American Party member ever elected to a state house. The next year they passed a law saying unless your party got 10 percent (?) for the state wide vote, you had to run as an independent. I don’t know how long Davis served as the American Party/Independent In Name Only legislator. Does anyone have more info?