Sara Peery Kyle (born October 21, 1952) is an American attorney and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

, and currently represents the 30th district in 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 ...

. She became the second woman to elected to statewide office in Tennessee when she won the race for Public Service Commissioner in 1994. Kyle is a Senate member of the 109th through 111th General Assemblies.

Life

Kyle was born in 1952 to Bruce and Emma Gene Clement Peery of Dickson, Tennessee and was a 1970 graduate of Dickson High School. She is the niece of

Frank G. Clement Frank Goad Clement (June 2, 1920 – November 4, 1969) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 41st Governor of Tennessee from 1953 to 1959 and from 1963 to 1967. Inaugurated for the first time at age 32, he was the state's younges ...

, who served as governor, and Anna Belle Clement O’Brien, who was a state senator. She is married to Jim Kyle.

Career

Kyle was elected to the Public Service Commission in 1994. The PSC as an elected position was eliminated and replaced by the appointed Tennessee Regulatory Authority to which Kyle was appointed in 1996 by then Democratic Speaker

Jimmy Naifeh James O. Naifeh (born June 16, 1939), usually known as Jimmy Naifeh, is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party from the State of Tennessee. He served as the Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1991 to 2009, s ...

. Kyle was reappointed to successive terms by Tennessee political leaders serving in appointed capacity from 1996 until March 2013 when she resigned, in protest, saying changes made by the Republican Governor

Bill Haslam William Edward Haslam (; born August 23, 1958) is an American billionaire businessman and politician who served as the 49th governor of Tennessee from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Haslam previously served as the 67th mayor of ...

left the agency ineffective. Kyle briefly considered another effort at a statewide race in 2014 against Governor Haslam, but decided against this course of action. In 2014 she was elected for an interim 2-year period of the remaining term to represent 30th district in the

, which is composed of part of Memphis, after her husband retired from the seat mid-term. She won re-election to the state senate in 2016, running unopposed in the general election. On 4 April 2016, Kyle voted for HB0615, a bill that would designate the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

as the official state book. The bill, supported by a majority of the state's Republican senators and one other Democratic senator, was vetoed by Gov.

. On 2 February 2019, Kyle proposed bill SB1320 on Arrests and bill SB1317 on Child Custody and Support and they were both passed.

References

External links

The State Senate biography of Sara Kyle

Project Vote Smart
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle, Sara 1952 births Living people Democratic Party Tennessee state senators Women state legislators in Tennessee 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians People from Dickson, Tennessee Politicians from Memphis, Tennessee Nashville School of Law alumni