Mike Stewart is an American politician from the state of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. He was a Democratic member of the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

, representing the 52nd district. Stewart was the chair of the Tennessee House Democratic Caucus.

Personal history

Before his election to the House, Stewart served in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, first in Korea, where he was awarded the Eighth Army Distinguished Leader Award, and later in

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

. Following Desert Storm, Stewart attended the University of Tennessee Law School, where he graduated ''cum laude'' in 1994. Stewart and his wife Ruth then moved to the East Nashville neighborhood of Lockeland Springs in order for Stewart to begin his legal career; he later practiced law at the Nashville law firm

Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP (often simply Waller) is a large U.S. law firm in Nashville, Tennessee with other offices in the Southern United States. History As the oldest law firm in Nashville, Waller traces its roots back to the Nashville ...

before pursuing a career in politics. Stewart was elected President of the Lockeland Springs Neighborhood Association in 1998.

Career in the House

First elected to the State House in 2008 to represent District 52, Stewart has served on the Criminal Justice, Ethics, Government Operations, and Rules Committees, and he made headlines when he brought an

AR-15 style rifle An AR-15-style rifle is any lightweight semi-automatic rifle based on the Colt AR-15 design. The original ArmaLite AR-15 is a scaled-down derivative of Eugene Stoner's ArmaLite AR-10 design. The then Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation d ...

, which he had legally purchased without a background check, into a committee meeting to make a statement about

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...

.Tennessee lawmaker buys gun easily, brings it to the legislature
by Joel Ebert, in ''

The Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, ...

''; published March 23, 2016; retrieved April 3, 2023

References

External links

*
Biography
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Legislative website
1965 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives People from Oak Ridge, Tennessee Politicians from Nashville, Tennessee University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Tennessee College of Law alumni United States Army personnel of the Gulf War 21st-century American legislators United States Army soldiers {{Tennessee-politician-stub