Mike Stewart (Tennessee)
Mike Stewart (Democratic Party) was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing District 52. He assumed office in 2008. He left office on November 8, 2022.
Stewart (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Tennessee House of Representatives to represent District 52. He won in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Stewart completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Stewart was born in Alexandria, Virginia. He earned a B.A. in history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 and a law degree from the University of Tennessee in 1994. His career experience includes working as an attorney for Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis. Stewart served in the United States Army from 1987 to 1991.[1]
Stewart has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]
- American Bar Association
- Nashville Bar Association
- Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2021-2022
Stewart was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
Stewart was assigned to the following committees:
- Government Operations Committee
- Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee
- Calendar and Rules Committee
- House Government Operations Committee
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
Tennessee committee assignments, 2017 |
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• Calendar and Rules |
• Civil Justice |
• Education Instruction and Programs |
• Government Operations |
• Government Operations |
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Stewart served on the following committees:
Tennessee committee assignments, 2015 |
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• Calendar and Rules |
• Criminal Justice |
• Government Operations |
• Insurance and Banking |
• Rules |
• Ethics |
• Government Operations |
2013-2014
In the 2013-2014 legislative session, Stewart served on the following committees:
Tennessee committee assignments, 2013 |
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• Civil Justice |
• Local Government |
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Stewart served on these committees:
Tennessee committee assignments, 2011 |
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• Judiciary |
• Transportation |
2009-2010
In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Stewart served on these committees:
Tennessee committee assignments, 2009 |
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• Business Tax |
• Commerce |
• Judiciary |
Issues
Anti-terrorism bill
Judd Matheny sponsored the 2011 bill, "Material Support to Designated Entities Act of 2011," which originally specifically targeted people who practice Sharia Law, the foundation of Islamic Code. It been stripped of any language about religion and instead widening the reach of the bill to anyone exhibiting potentially terrorist-like tendencies.
It aims to fight “homegrown terrorism,” whether the state finds that threat in gangs, cults, religious groups or individuals, according to lawmakers carrying the bill.
“I would just, please, like to implore the Muslim community, this is not against you,” said Matheny. “This is not a witch hunt. This is nothing but to protect ourselves where the federal government can’t or won’t.”
Members of the House Judiciary Committee approved the bill 12-4 while the measure won a 6-3 favorable vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. From there, both measures had to advance to the houses’ Finance, Ways and Means committees.
Rep. Mike Stewart said the bill doesn’t give enough of a recourse for people falsely accused of being or helping terrorists.
“It’s un-American as far as I’m concerned,” said Stewart. “What we’re saying here is that somebody in Tennessee, a regular person, can be declared a terrorist, and they have no right to a trial of their peers to clear their good name. That’s just completely the opposite of what we should be doing in this country.”[2]
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2022
Mike Stewart did not file to run for re-election.
2020
See also: Tennessee House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 52
Incumbent Mike Stewart defeated Donna Tees in the general election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 52 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | Mike Stewart (D) ![]() | 72.0 | 16,421 | |
Donna Tees (R) | 28.0 | 6,382 |
Total votes: 22,803 | ||||
![]() | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 52
Incumbent Mike Stewart defeated James C. Turner II in the Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 52 on August 6, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | Mike Stewart ![]() | 62.2 | 4,327 | |
![]() | James C. Turner II | 37.8 | 2,634 |
Total votes: 6,961 | ||||
![]() | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 52
Donna Tees advanced from the Republican primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 52 on August 6, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | Donna Tees | 100.0 | 1,226 |
Total votes: 1,226 | ||||
![]() | ||||
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2018
See also: Tennessee House of Representatives elections, 2018
General election
General election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 52
Incumbent Mike Stewart won election in the general election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 52 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | Mike Stewart (D) | 100.0 | 13,934 |
Total votes: 13,934 | ||||
![]() | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 52
Incumbent Mike Stewart advanced from the Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 52 on August 2, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | Mike Stewart | 100.0 | 4,797 |
Total votes: 4,797 | ||||
![]() | ||||
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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2016
Elections for the Tennessee House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on August 4, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was April 7, 2016.
Incumbent Mike Stewart ran unopposed in the Tennessee House of Representatives District 52 general election.[3][4]
Tennessee House of Representatives, District 52 General Election, 2016 | ||
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Party | Candidate | |
Democratic | ![]() | |
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State |
Incumbent Mike Stewart ran unopposed in the Tennessee House of Representatives District 52 Democratic primary.[5][6]
Tennessee House of Representatives, District 52 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
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Party | Candidate | |
Democratic | ![]() |
2014
Elections for 99 seats in the Tennessee House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on August 7, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was April 3, 2014. Incumbent Mike Stewart was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Stewart was unopposed in the general election.[7][8]
2012
Stewart won re-election in the 2012 election for Tennessee House of Representatives, District 52. Stewart ran unopposed in the August 2 primary election and defeated Daniel Lewis (I) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[9][10]
2010
Stewart won re-election to the 52nd District seat in 2010. He was unopposed in the August 5 primary.[11] He also faced no opposition in the general election on November 2, 2010.[12]
2008
On Nov. 4, 2008, Stewart won election to the 52nd District Seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives, defeating opponent Dan Scott (I).[13]
Stewart raised $120,813 for his campaign while Scott raised $0.[14]
Tennessee House of Representatives, District 52 (2008) | ||||
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Candidates | Votes | |||
![]() |
13,802 | |||
Dan Scott (I) | 4,048 |
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Mike Stewart completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Stewart's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
Collapse all
|- I have been a strong leader in the Legislature on all issues of importance to Democrats, and repeatedly taken on Republicans pushing the Trump agenda in Tennessee.
- Despite being outnumbered by Republicans, I have successfully achieved success pushing and defending Democratic priorities. For example, I have helped kill school voucher legislation backed by Trump and by Republican governors year after year. Most recently, we limited the primary voucher bill to two counties, rendering it unconstitutional.
- I have been elected Caucus Chairman by my fellow Democrats three times. As Caucus Chairman, I have developed a campaign operation that has recruited more Democratic candidates than ever before and switched seats from Republican to Democratic control in West, Middle and East Tennessee.
Criminal Justice Reform. As Caucus Chairman, I have made criminal justice reform a core priority for Democrats in the House. Many Democrats have pushed this important agenda on many fronts. I have focused on reforming Tennessee's prisons, which are full of non-violent offenders who should not be incarcerated, are overcrowded and understaffed and are often highly unsafe to inmates and staff. I have successfully pushed for management changes, for greater oversight, for better medical care and other important reforms.
Protecting Public Schools. I have successfully opposed many bills designed to defund public schools, supported legislation to eliminate unneeded testing and promoted policies that provided teachers the respect, autonomy and pay they need and deserve.
I also have been successful because I like people and enjoy working with diverse groups to elect Democrats and promote other important policies and goals.
Today things are very different. After forty years of right wing propaganda, Americans no longer have much faith in their government institutions, and the institutions, particularly at the federal level, often live up (or down) to their low expectations. Today, our national government not only appears unable to come up with a coherent response to a worldwide pandemic, but actively disseminates false information about the COVID-19 virus. Today we have large numbers of public officials who are actually willing to deny the existence of global warming - a departure from science and reason that would have been unthinkable in prior decades. Our political system, which has historically been America's great gift to the world, is increasingly a burden, weighing down our country with nonsensical rhetoric, fake issues and bad decision-making.
I have experience in the House which leads me to be more effective when promoting change, particularly in the face of significant opposition.
For example, I have for months used a series of press events, letters, Caucus positions and other means to demand that Governor Lee take stonger action with respect to tracking and controlling the COVID-19 virus.
Thankfully, the House Rules require that I be on the Government Operations and Calendar and Rules Committees, where most significant legislation must at some point pass. On those committees in particular, I am in a position to significantly impact the flow of legislation.
One individual told me the story about how her family escaped from a farm where they sharecropped. It was basically run like a prison, and she tore her leg climbing over a barb wire fence to get to a relative's waiting car in the middle of the night. This is not ancient history - it was a childhood experience of someone voting today.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Tennessee scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2022
In 2022, the Tennessee State Legislature was in session from January 11 to April 28.
- Legislators are scored on their stances on conservative fiscal policy.
- Legislators are scored based on their votes on the business community.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to education.
- Legislators are scored on bills related to reproductive health issues.
2021
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Tennessee State Legislature was in session from January 12 to May 5.
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2020
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Tennessee State Legislature was in session from January 14 to June 19.
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2019
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Tennessee General Assembly was in session January 8 through May 2.
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2018
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the 110th Tennessee General Assembly, second session, was in session January 9 to April 27.
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2017
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the 110th Tennessee General Assembly, first session, was in session January 10 to May 10.
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2016
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the 109th Tennessee General Assembly, second year, was in session from January 12 through April 22
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2015
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the 109th Tennessee General Assembly, first year, was in session from January 13 through April 22.
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2014
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
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In 2014, the 108th Tennessee General Assembly, second year, was in session from January 14 to April 18.
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2013
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
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In 2013, the 108th Tennessee General Assembly, first year, was in session from January 8 to April 19.
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2012
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2012, click [show]. |
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In 2012, the 107th Tennessee General Assembly, second year, was in session from January 10 through May 1.
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2011
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2011, click [show]. |
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In 2011, the 107th Tennessee General Assembly, first year, was in session from January 11 to May 21.
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See also
2020 Elections
External links
Candidate Tennessee House of Representatives District 52 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 27, 2020.
- ↑ TNReport, "Republicans Broaden Anti-Terrorism Bill," April 27, 2011
- ↑ The New York Times, "Election 2016," accessed November 11, 2016
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "2016 general election results - Tennessee House of Representatives," accessed January 19, 2017
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "Candidate Petitions Filed as of April 8, 2016 Noon Qualifying Deadline," accessed April 11, 2016
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "August 4, 2016 Unofficial Election Results," accessed August 4, 2016
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "August 7, 2014 Election Results," accessed September 11, 2014
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "Petitions Filed for State Senate and State House of Representatives," accessed April 5, 2014
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "2012 List of Candidates," accessed April 18, 2014
- ↑ Tennessee Department of State, "Election Results," accessed April 18, 2014
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "2010 Primary Election Official Results," accessed April 18, 2014
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "2010 Tennessee General election results," accessed April 18, 2014
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "2008 Tennessee General election results," accessed April 18, 2014
- ↑ Follow the Money, "General Election Results," accessed April 18, 2014
- ↑ Tennessee Bar Association, "Nashville Chamber Releases 2015 Legislative Scorecard," accessed November 10, 2015
- ↑ Tennessee Bar Association, "Nashville Chamber Releases 2015 Legislative Scorecard," accessed November 10, 2015
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by - |
Tennessee House of Representatives District 52 2008-2022 |
Succeeded by Justin Jones (D) |