Sen. Alexander: Phil Bredesen would make 'formidable candidate' in U.S. Senate race

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander said Friday that Phil Bredesen would be a "formidable candidate" if the former Democratic governor decides to get into next year's Senate race.

Prominent Democrats are encouraging Bredesen, governor from 2003-2011, to enter the race to succeed U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, who is not seeking re-election. 

"He would be a formidable candidate," Alexander said. "He was a popular governor. I think what he would have to explain to the people is how electing one more to the Democratic number in the Senate would help the people of Tennessee, and my argument would be if you want conservative judges and lower taxes and deregulation, then it’s better to have a Republican majority."

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, is seeking the Republican nomination for the Senate, as is former U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, R-Frog Jump. 

Nashville attorney James Mackler is the only Democrat currently in the race. Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke also is considering entering. 

Alexander, R-Tenn., was in Nashville on Friday to speak before the Greater Tennessee chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors and talked with the USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee about health care, tax reform and politics. 

Here’s what he had to say:

Are you supportive of the Senate tax bill? What do you think of it?

Alexander: I’m very impressed with the Senate bill. I think it takes the handcuffs off job creators and helps them create more jobs, compete for workers and raise salaries.

When you lower the corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 (percent) that’s a big change and when you allow businesses to deduct their expenses in the first year, that doesn’t sound very exciting but it means they can hire more people and pay more for wages.

What about (the end) of the sales tax deduction?

Alexander: Well, I think that’s a fair trade because what happens with the individual side of the tax is that people in every category get a tax cut. The standard deduction is doubled, so only about 10 percent of the people in Tennessee, maybe 12, will be itemizing their deductions on their income tax. 

Where does the bipartisan health care bill, the Alexander-Murray bill, stand?

Alexander: It’s all wrapped up in a nice package sitting on the president’s desk. I hope he says that he wants Congress to pass it, that it will be part of the end-of-the-year package in mid-December.

The effect of it for Tennesseans is that we have about 190,000 Tennesseans who buy their insurance in the individual market and don’t have any government subsidy. They’re the ones getting hammered, and this will give them rebates in 2018 and lower their rates in 2019.

We’ve had several seats open up here in Tennessee and several folks come out and say they’re interested in running. Starting with Senator Corker’s announcement that he won’t run for re-election, what do you think that vacancy means for Tennessee politics?

I’m like Peyton Manning, my hope was Senator Corker would serve until he’s 100. He’s an absolutely terrific senator, and I had hoped he would run one more term, but Congressman Blackburn and Congressman Fincher are both excellent congressmen. They’ll have a good competitive race. 

As far as the governor’s race, you’ve gone down that road before. In this upcoming election, what do you think Tennessee voters are looking for in a candidate?

Alexander: I hope what they are looking for is a continuation of what we’ve had for 40 years because we’ve had Democratic and Republican governors who’ve worked together to create an environment for job growth. And they’ve put aside most of their political differences once they got into office.

Amid several controversies, the Robert Mueller investigation and Senator Corker’s criticisms, what are your thoughts on the stability of the White House?

Alexander: There’s controversy in Washington because there’s controversy in the country, but if you look carefully at Washington, a lot has happened in the last year with a new Supreme Court justice, conservative judges, center-right policy on labor policy, education policy, the Keystone Pipeline, hopefully a new tax bill and even a modest accomplishment in health care. Plus, we’ve got an unconventional president who does things in a little bit different way and people are getting used to that. 

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Lastly, what do you think about the direction the Russia investigation has gone and about the conflict with North Korea?

Alexander: There’s a fairly unanimous feeling that Russia interfered in our elections and that’s a serious problem and we want to stop it, so we have a very good bipartisan investigation in the Senate Intelligence Committee and we are all looking forward to that. I think while there will be some political shenanigans associated with it, there’s broad bipartisan support for taking steps to stop any any foreign country, especially Russia, from doing what it did in our elections. It even came to Tennessee, as you have reported.

North Korea is our biggest problem. I think the president and the secretary of state need to be deliberate and very careful because the consequences are really grave. I think the president is right to be firm, but he should be very careful considering military options and make sure that we know what the consequences would be if we do.

Reach Jordan Buie at jbuie@tennessean.com or 615-726-5970 and on Twitter @jordanbuie.