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Phil Bredesen

Philip Norman Bredesen Jr. (/ˈbrɛdəsən/; born November 21, 1943) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 48th governor of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected in 2002 with 50.6% of the vote and re-elected in 2006 with 68.6%. He is the most recent Democrat elected to a statewide office in the state. He served as the 66th mayor of Nashville from 1991 to 1999. Bredesen is the founder of the HealthAmerica Corporation, which he sold in 1986.

Phil Bredesen

Philip Norman Bredesen Jr.

(1943-11-21) November 21, 1943
Oceanport, New Jersey, U.S.

Susan Cleaves
(m. 1968; div. 1974)
(m. 1974)

1

Since 2011, he has been chair of Silicon Ranch Corporation, a firm that develops and operates solar power stations. On December 6, 2017, Bredesen announced he would run for Bob Corker's open seat in the United States Senate, as Corker chose not to seek reelection in 2018.[1] On August 2, 2018, he won the Democratic primary and faced off against Republican nominee Marsha Blackburn. He lost in the general election on November 6, 2018. After losing the Senate race, he and his campaign team founded Clearloop, a renewable energy startup.[2]


Bredesen has been widely characterized as a moderate Democrat who is fiscally conservative but socially liberal.[3]

Early life and private career[edit]

Bredesen was born in Oceanport, New Jersey, the son of Norma Lucille (Walborn) and Philip Norman Bredesen.[4] His parents divorced and his mother was employed as a bank teller. During Bredesen's childhood, his grandmother, who sewed for a living, lived with the family. Bredesen grew up in Shortsville, New York, 30 miles from Rochester.[5] He attended Red Jacket Central Elementary and Secondary School in the adjoining village of Manchester.[6]


He received a scholarship to Harvard University, where he graduated with an undergraduate degree in physics.[7] In 1967, Bredesen moved to Lexington, Massachusetts, where he did classified work for Itek and received a draft deferment during the Vietnam War.[5]


In 1968, Bredesen worked for the campaign of Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy, who was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.[5] Bredesen launched his first political campaign in 1969, when he ran for the Massachusetts State Senate. He was defeated by a popular incumbent Republican, Ronald MacKenzie.[5]


Bredesen joined pharmaceutical firm G.D. Searle & Company in 1971, and moved to London in 1973 to manage one of the company's divisions.[8] In 1974, he married Andrea Conte. In 1975, the family moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where Conte had been recruited by Hospital Corporation of America.[5] In Nashville, Bredesen founded HealthAmerica Corp., an insurance company.[9] He sold his controlling interest in HealthAmerica in 1986,[9] and because of the wealth he earned from the company, did not accept his gubernatorial salary.[10]

Political involvement[edit]

Mayor of Nashville[edit]

In 1987, Bredesen ran for mayor of Nashville. He finished second out of 10 candidates with 30% of the vote, behind only 5th District Congressman Bill Boner, who won 46%.[11] Since Boner fell short of the necessary threshold for an outright victory, he and Bredesen faced each other in a runoff. Boner won the runoff, 75,790 votes to 66,153,[12] largely by emphasizing that he was a Nashville native while Bredesen was a Northerner.[13]


In December 1987, Bredesen ran in the Democratic primary for the 5th District congressional seat left open by Boner's victory. He finished a distant second behind Bob Clement, son of former governor Frank G. Clement.[12]


Ahead of the 1991 mayoral race, Boner was accused of marital infidelity, and declined to run.[14] Bredesen won the election, defeating Councilwoman Betty Nixon, 78,896 votes to 30,282.[12]


As mayor of Nashville, Bredesen added more than 440 new teachers, built 32 new schools and renovated 43 others. He also implemented a back-to-basics curriculum to teach students the fundamentals of learning.[9] Under the Bredesen Administration, the NFL's Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) were brought to Nashville and furnished with a new stadium, Nissan Stadium; the NHL awarded Nashville its first of four new expansion franchises, the Nashville Predators; and Bridgestone Arena was built.[14] Bredesen also attempted to lure the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and later the NHL's New Jersey Devils to Nashville, but both efforts were unsuccessful.[15] A new downtown library was built as a cornerstone of major improvements to the entire library system, the city's downtown entertainment district was renovated,[9] and two parks, Beaman Park and Shelby Bottoms, were established.[14]


Bredesen did not run for a third term in 1999. The Metro Charter had been amended in 1994 to limit city council members to two consecutive four-year terms, and was worded in such a way that it appeared to apply to mayors as well.[16] Although mayors had been permitted to serve a maximum of three consecutive terms since the formation of Metro Nashville in 1963, Bredesen did not make an issue of that.

Post-governorship[edit]

Since leaving the governor's office in 2011, Bredesen has been the chairman of a solar energy plant developer.[27]


Viewed by many as a moderate Democrat based in the South, Bredesen was touted as a potential presidential candidate in 2008, but he said he had no interest in joining the wide field of Democrats seeking the nomination. He did not comment on joining a Democratic ticket as Vice President of the United States. On June 4, 2008, Bredesen endorsed Barack Obama for U.S. president.[28] Following the withdrawal of former Senator Tom Daschle as nominee for United States Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama Administration, The Atlantic correspondent Marc Ambinder reported that Bredesen was being vetted as a possible replacement. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius was eventually chosen for the post.[29][30]

Personal life[edit]

Bredesen married Susan Cleaves in 1968. They divorced in 1974 and had no children.[8] Later that year, he married Andrea Conte in Wheatley, Oxfordshire, England. The two have one son, Ben.


As of 2018, Bredesen's net worth was estimated to be between $88.9 million and $358 million.[69]


Bredesen is a founding member of the nonprofit Nashville's Table and he served on the board of the Frist Center.[9]

- official campaign site

Phil Bredesen for Senate

at Curlie

Phil Bredesen

(PDF). Tennessee State Library and Archives.

"Governor Phil Bredesen Papers, 2003-2011"

at the Federal Election Commission

Financial information (federal office)

at Vote Smart

Profile

on C-SPAN

Appearances