Tennessee Democratic Party
The Tennessee Democratic Party (TNDP) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in Tennessee. The party was founded in 1826 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
Tennessee Democratic Party | |
|---|---|
| Chairperson | Hendrell Remus |
| Senate minority leader | Raumesh Akbari |
| House minority leader | Karen Camper |
| Founded | 1826 |
| Headquarters | 4900 Centennial Blvd. Ste 300, Nashville, Tennessee |
| Student wing | Tennessee High School Democrats Tennessee College Democrats |
| Youth wing | Tennessee Young Democrats |
| Ideology | Modern liberalism Progressivism Historical: Conservatism |
| Political position | Center to center-left |
| National affiliation | Democratic Party |
| Colors | Blue |
| Seats in the U.S. Senate | 0 / 2 |
| Seats in the U.S. House | 1 / 9 |
| Seats in the State Senate | 6 / 33 |
| Seats in the State House | 24 / 99 |
| Website | |
| tndp.org | |
A socially-conservative southern state and member of the confederacy during the Civil War, Tennessee government was dominated by the Democratic Party for most of its history.
The Tennessee Democratic Party was initially a proponent of President Andrew Jackson's populist philosophy of Jacksonian democracy in the mid-1820s. From the late 19th-century through to the 1960s, the party took reliably conservative positions on most issues, largely opposing civil rights for African Americans and fighting to preserve the Jim Crow system. However, during the New Deal era that followed the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the party began to shift away from conservatism and towards a platform of modern liberalism. In the mid-to-late 20th century, the Democratic Party began to support the inclusion of Blacks and other minorities in its coalition and adopting liberal positions on both fiscal and social issues. As a result, it began to lose ground in the state towards the end of the 20th century, with the rival Republican Party making overwhelming gains at all levels of government in the 21st century.