Raumesh Akbari

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Raumesh Akbari
Image of Raumesh Akbari

Candidate, Tennessee State Senate District 29

Tennessee State Senate District 29
Tenure

2018 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

6

Predecessor
Prior offices
Tennessee House of Representatives District 91
Successor: London Lamar

Compensation

Base salary

$28,405.96/year

Per diem

$326.47/day. Legislators living within 50 miles of the Capitol receive a reduced amount of $47 per day.

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 8, 2022

Next election

November 3, 2026

Contact

Raumesh Akbari (Democratic Party) is a member of the Tennessee State Senate, representing District 29. She assumed office on November 6, 2018. Her current term ends on November 3, 2026.

Akbari (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to the Tennessee State Senate to represent District 29. She declared candidacy for the 2026 election.

Akbari has served as state Senate minority leader since January 10, 2023.[1]

Akbari is a former Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing District 91 from 2014 to 2018. She was first elected to the chamber in a special election on November 21, 2013.

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.

2023-2024

Akbari was assigned to the following committees:

2021-2022

Akbari was assigned to the following committees:

2019-2020

Akbari was assigned to the following committees:

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Tennessee committee assignments, 2017
• Criminal Justice
Education Administration and Planning

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Akbari served on the following committees:

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

2026

See also: Tennessee State Senate elections, 2026

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for Tennessee State Senate District 29

Incumbent Raumesh Akbari is running in the general election for Tennessee State Senate District 29 on November 3, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Raumesh Akbari
Raumesh Akbari (D)

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Endorsements

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2022

See also: Tennessee State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Tennessee State Senate District 29

Incumbent Raumesh Akbari won election in the general election for Tennessee State Senate District 29 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Raumesh Akbari
Raumesh Akbari (D)
 
100.0
 
30,204

Total votes: 30,204
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Tennessee State Senate District 29

Incumbent Raumesh Akbari advanced from the Democratic primary for Tennessee State Senate District 29 on August 4, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Raumesh Akbari
Raumesh Akbari
 
100.0
 
21,565

Total votes: 21,565
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

See also: Tennessee State Senate elections, 2018

General election

General election for Tennessee State Senate District 29

Raumesh Akbari defeated Tom Stephens in the general election for Tennessee State Senate District 29 on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Raumesh Akbari
Raumesh Akbari (D)
 
83.5
 
43,851
Image of Tom Stephens
Tom Stephens (R)
 
16.5
 
8,679

Total votes: 52,530
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Tennessee State Senate District 29

Raumesh Akbari defeated Justin Ford in the Democratic primary for Tennessee State Senate District 29 on August 2, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Raumesh Akbari
Raumesh Akbari
 
58.4
 
14,861
Justin Ford
 
41.6
 
10,577

Total votes: 25,438
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Tennessee State Senate District 29

Tom Stephens advanced from the Republican primary for Tennessee State Senate District 29 on August 2, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Tom Stephens
Tom Stephens
 
100.0
 
3,873

Total votes: 3,873
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2016

See also: Tennessee House of Representatives elections, 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 Raumesh Akbari defeated Samuel Watkins in the Tennessee House of Representatives District 91 general election.[2][3]

Tennessee House of Representatives, District 91 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Raumesh Akbari Incumbent 82.35% 14,580
     Republican Samuel Watkins 17.65% 3,125
Total Votes 17,705
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State


Incumbent Raumesh Akbari ran unopposed in the Tennessee House of Representatives District 91 Democratic primary.[4][5]

Tennessee House of Representatives, District 91 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party Candidate
    Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Raumesh Akbari Incumbent (unopposed)


Samuel Watkins ran unopposed in the Tennessee House of Representatives District 91 Republican primary.[4][5]

Tennessee House of Representatives, District 91 Republican Primary, 2016
Party Candidate
    Republican Green check mark transparent.png Samuel Watkins  (unopposed)

2014

See also: Tennessee House of Representatives elections, 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 Raumesh Akbari defeated Doris DeBerry-Bradshaw in the Democratic primary. Samuel Watkins defeated Orrden Williams, Jr. in the Republican primary. Akbari defeated Watkins in the general election.[6][7]

Tennessee House of Representatives District 91, General Election, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngRaumesh A. Akbari Incumbent 81.9% 8,053
     Republican Samuel (Sam) Watkins 18.1% 1,777
Total Votes 9,830


Tennessee House of Representatives, District 91 Democratic Primary, 2014
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngRaumesh Akbari Incumbent 55.7% 3,964
Doris DeBerry-Bradshaw 44.3% 3,147
Total Votes 7,111
Tennessee House of Representatives, District 91 Republican Primary, 2014
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngSamuel Watkins 85.7% 634
Orrden Williams, Jr. 14.3% 106
Total Votes 740

2013

See also: Tennessee state legislative special elections, 2013

Akbari won election in a special election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 91. The seat was vacant following Rep. Lois DeBerry (D)'s death on July 29, 2013, from pancreatic cancer. Akbari defeated Kemba Ford, Dwight DeBerry, Doris DeBerry-Bradshaw, Joshua R. Forbes, Terica Lamb, Clifford Lewis and Kermit Moore in the Democratic primary on October 8. Akbari defeated Jim Tomasik (L) in the special election, which took place on November 21.[8][9][10][11]

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

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Twitter

2022

Raumesh Akbari did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

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.


Raumesh Akbari campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2022Tennessee State Senate District 29Won general$72,218 $33,103
2018Tennessee State Senate District 29Won general$85,387 N/A**
Grand total$157,605 $33,103
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Tennessee

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.


2024


2023


2022


2021


2020


2019


2018


2017


2016


2015


2014


2013


See also


External links

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by
Lee Harris (D)
Tennessee State Senate District 29
2018-Present
Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
-
Tennessee House of Representatives District 91
2014-2018
Succeeded by
London Lamar (D)


Current members of the Tennessee State Senate
Leadership
Senate President:Randy McNally
Minority Leader:Raumesh Akbari
Senators
District 1
J. Lowe (R)
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
Bo Watson (R)
District 12
Ken Yager (R)
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
Mark Pody (R)
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
District 30
Sara Kyle (D)
District 31
District 32
Paul Rose (R)
District 33
Republican Party (27)
Democratic Party (6)