Jim Tracy (born October 9, 1956) is an American politician and the Tennessee Director for Rural Development for the Trump Administration. He is a former member of the

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any issue rega ...

for the 14th district, which is composed of Bedford County, Moore County, and part of Rutherford County.

Tennessee Senate

Among legislation Tracy sponsored was a bill that would ban smoking in indoor public places, places owned or operated by the state, and enclosed areas of employment. The bill passed the State and Local Government Committee with five senators in favor and two against. It passed in May 2007 and took effect on October 1, 2007. Tracy was the Assistant

Floor Leader In politics, floor leaders, also known as a caucus leader, are leaders of their respective political party in a body of a legislature. Philippines In the Philippines each body of the bicameral Congress has a majority floor leader and a minor ...

of the Senate

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Caucus, the Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, and a member of the Senate Education Committee and the Senate State and Local Government Committee. Before his election to the Senate, Tracy graduated from the

University of Tennessee at Martin The University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin or UTM) is a public university in Martin, Tennessee. It is one of the five campuses of the University of Tennessee system. UTM is the only public university in West Tennessee outside of Memphi ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree and worked as an insurance agent.

Congressional campaigns

2010 U.S. Congressional campaign

In December 2009, after incumbent U.S. Representative

Bart Gordon Barton Jennings Gordon (born January 24, 1949) is an American politician and former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1985 until 2011. The district includes several rural areas and fast-growing suburbs east of Nashville. He was Chairman of ...

decided to retire, Tracy announced that he would run in the Republican primaries for the state's 6th Congressional district. It was one of the few districts in which John McCain’s margin of victory (25 percentage points) in the 2008 presidential election was larger than

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

's in 2004 (20 points). Among the possible candidates mentioned by insiders were state Representatives Henry Fincher and Mike McDonald, both Democrats who declined to run. Tracy's biggest competition in the Republican primary came from state Senator

Diane Black Diane Lynn Black (née Warren; January 16, 1951) is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative for from January 3, 2011, to January 3, 2019. The district includes several suburban and rural areas east of Nashville. A Republican, ...

and former Rutherford County GOP chairwoman Lou Ann Zelenik. Newt Gingrich endorsed Tracy. He finished third in the primary.

2014 U.S. Congressional campaign

Tracy announced that he would challenge Representative

Scott DesJarlais Scott Eugene DesJarlais (; born February 21, 1964) is an American politician and physician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2011. The district stretches across East and Middle Tennessee. He is a member of the Republican Party. E ...

Tennessee's 4th congressional district The 4th congressional district of Tennessee is a congressional district in southern Tennessee. It has been represented by Republican Scott DesJarlais since January 2011. Current boundaries The district lies mostly in the southern part of Middle ...

in the 2014 Republican primary. By the end of June 2013 he had raised nearly $750,000. DesJarlais won the Republican primary by a mere 38 votes before going on to win the general election handily.

USDA Rural Development

In 2017 Tracy was appointed Tennessee state director of

USDA Rural Development USDA Rural Development (RD) is a mission area within the United States Department of Agriculture which runs programs intended to improve the economy and quality of life in rural parts of the United States. Rural Development has a loan portfolio o ...

References

External links

Jim Tracy's profile at the Tennessee General Assembly WebsiteState Senate Campaign WebsiteDefunct Congressional Campaign WebsiteAn article from the Associated Press, mirrored by The Daily TimesThe bill at the Website of the Tennessee General Assembly
*
Campaign contributions
at

OpenSecrets.org OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...

Living people Republican Party Tennessee state senators 1956 births 21st-century American politicians {{tennessee-politician-stub