Government of Tennessee

The Government of Tennessee is organized under the provisions of the 1870 Constitution of Tennessee, first adopted in 1796.^[1] As set forth by the state constitution, administrative influence in Tennessee is divided among three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial.

Government of Tennessee
Seal of Tennessee
Part of	United States of America
Constitution	Constitution of Tennessee
Legislative branch
Name	General Assembly
Type	Bicameral
Meeting place	Tennessee State Capitol
Upper house
Name	Senate
Presiding officer	Randy McNally, Honorable
Lower house
Name	House of Representatives
Presiding officer	Cameron Sexton, Speaker
Executive branch
Head of state and government
Title	Governor
Currently	Bill Lee
Appointer	Election
Cabinet
Name	Cabinet of the State of Tennessee
Leader	Governor
Headquarters	Tennessee State Capitol
Judicial branch
Name	Judiciary of Tennessee
Courts	Courts of Tennessee
Tennessee Supreme Court
Chief judge	Holly M. Kirby
Seat	Nashville, Knoxville, and Jackson

The seat of the government in Tennessee is located in its capital city of Nashville.

The Flag of Tennessee

Executive branch

Governor

The Governor of Tennessee is the Supreme Executive Power set by the state Constitution. The Governor (currently Governor Bill Lee^[2]) is responsible for enforcing state laws and the state constitution and is also known as the keeper of the Great Seal of the State of Tennessee.

Lieutenant governor

The Tennessee Lieutenant Governor is the presiding officer of the Tennessee Senate and first in line in the succession to the office of governor of Tennessee. If the governor is incapacitated or dies in office, then the lieutenant governor becomes the governor. The lieutenant governor is a state senator elected by the entire Senate to be the Speaker of the Senate.

Cabinet Members

The Tennessee Governor's Cabinet is an advisory body that oversees the executive branch of the Tennessee state government. Members, titled "commissioners," are appointed by the governor—not subject to the approval of the Tennessee General Assembly—and oversee the various government departments and agencies. Additionally, several members of the governor's staff serve in the cabinet. Governor-elects can, and often do, rearrange the departments, and thus the number of commissioners.

Under the incumbent Governor Bill Lee, there are 29 members of the Cabinet: 22 commissioners, 1 director, and 6 members of the Governor's staff.^[3]

Tennessee's Governor and Lieutenant Governor

• 
  Bill Lee (R)
  Governor
• 
  Randy McNally (R)
  Lieutenant Governor

Legislative branch

Tennessee General Assembly

Flag of the General Assembly of Tennessee

The state legislature is known as the Tennessee General Assembly. It consists of a 33 member Senate, and a 99 member House of Representatives. Senators serve four-year terms, and house members serve two-year terms. Each chamber elects its own speaker from among its members. The General Assembly is a part-time legislature, typically meeting from January through April or May each year.^[4]

The current Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the Senate is Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge). He was elected on January 10, 2017, and is the second consecutive Republican to hold the office.

The current Speaker of the House is Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville)

Constitutional Officers

Tennessee's three constitutional officers are elected by a joint session of the legislature. The Comptroller of the Treasury and State Treasurer are elected for two-year terms, and the Secretary of State is elected for a four-year term.

Tennessee Constitutional Officers

Constitutional Office	Incumbent	In office since	Website
Comptroller of the Treasury	Jason E. Mumpower	2021	[5]
Secretary of State	Tre Hargett	2009	[6]
State Treasurer	David Lillard	2009	[7]

Judicial branch

Supreme Court

Source:^[8]

The Supreme Court of Tennessee is the state's highest court in the state. The Supreme Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, and four justices. The incumbent Chief Justice is Holly M. Kirby.^[9] No more than two justices can be from the same Grand Division.

As of September 1, 2024^[update], the justices of the Tennessee Supreme Court are:

Justice	Born	Joined	Chief Justice	Term ends[a]	Grand Division represented	Appointed by	Law school
Holly M. Kirby, Chief Justice	(1957-07-09) July 9, 1957 (age 68)	September 1, 2014	2023–present	2030	West	Bill Haslam (R)	Memphis
Jeffrey S. Bivins	(1960-08-31) August 31, 1960 (age 64)	July 16, 2014	2016–2021	2030	Middle	Bill Haslam (R)	Vanderbilt
Sarah K. Campbell	1982 (age 42–43)	February 10, 2022	–	2030	Middle	Bill Lee (R)	Duke
Dwight E. Tarwater	(1955-04-28) April 28, 1955 (age 70)	September 1, 2023	–	2024	East	Bill Lee (R)	Tennessee
Mary L. Wagner	1984 or 1985 (age 40–41)	September 1, 2024	–	2026	West	Bill Lee (R)	Memphis

1. Term ends Aug. 31 of the year listed.

In a unique method known as the Tennessee Plan, Supreme Court justices, like all other appellate court judges, the Governor fills any vacancies that occur, with the advice and consent of the Tennessee General Assembly, from a list of three judges compiled by a commission. At the next election in which a governor is elected, voters are asked whether they want to retain or remove the newly-confirmed justice. Retention votes are held every eight years after. If voters decide to remove a justice, the process begins again.

As required by the Tennessee Constitution, the Supreme Court regularly meets in Jackson, Knoxville, and Nashville. In addition to the regular meetings of the Supreme Court, the Court takes their oral arguments on the road as part of the SCALES program (Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students) a few times each year.

Attorney General

The Tennessee Attorney General is the state's chief legal officer and works to represent all of the state government. The Attorney General employs around 340 people across five offices around the state.

The Tennessee Supreme Court appoints the Attorney General, a method not found in any of the other 49 states. As of 2023,^[update] the incumbent Attorney General is Jonathan Skrmetti.

Intermediate Appellate Courts

The intermediate appellate courts of Tennessee include the court of appeals and the court of criminal appeals. The court of appeals hears cases appealed from probate, chancery, and circuit courts, whereas the court of criminal appeals hears cases appealed from circuit and criminal courts.

Both the Court of Appeals and the Court of Criminal Appeals have 12 judges.

Trial Courts

Trial courts in the state of Tennessee include probate courts, chancery courts, circuit courts, and criminal courts. The circuit courts, chancery and probate courts, and criminal courts each have 31 judicial districts.

Courts of Limited Jurisdiction

The courts of limited jurisdiction include juvenile courts, general sessions courts, and municipal courts.

District Attorneys

See also: List of district attorneys by county

Map of Tennessee's judicial districts

Partisanship among Tennessee DAs as of 2025
     Republican      Democrat      Independent

Tennessee elects district attorneys by judicial district. They are called "The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference."

Judicial District	Counties	District Attorney
1st	Carter, Johnson, Unicoi, and Washington	Steven R. Finney (R)
2nd	Sullivan	Barry P. Staubus (R)
3rd	Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, and Hawkins	Dan E. Armstrong (R)
4th	Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson, and Sevier	Jimmy B. Dunn (R)
5th	Blount	Ryan Desmond (R)
6th	Knox	Charme Allen (R)
7th	Anderson	Dave S. Clark (Ind.)
8th	Campbell, Claiborne, Fentress, Scott, and Union	Jared R. Effler (Ind.)
9th	Loudon, Meigs, Morgan, and Roane	Russell Johnson (Ind.)
10th	Bradley, McMinn, Monroe, and Polk	Stephen Hatchett (R)
11th	Hamilton	Coty Wamp (R)
12th	Bledsoe, Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Rhea, and Sequatchie	Courtney Lynch (R)
13th	Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, and White	Bryant C. Dunaway (R)
14th	Coffee	Craig Northcott (R)
15th	Jackson, Macon, Smith, Trousdale, and Wilson	Jason Lawson (R)
16th	Cannon and Rutherford	Jennings H. Jones (R)
17th	Bedford, Lincoln, Marshall, and Moore	Robert J. Carter (Ind.)
18th	Sumner	Ray Whitley (R)
19th	Montgomery and Robertson	Robert Nash (R)
20th	Davidson	Glenn Funk (D)
21st	Hickman, Lewis, and Perry	Stacey B. Edmonson (R)
22nd	Giles, Lawrence, Maury, and Wayne	Brent A. Cooper (R)
23rd	Cheatham, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys, and Stewart	Ray Crouch, Jr. (R)
24th	Benton, Carroll, Decatur, Hardin, and Henry	Neil Thomson (R)
25th	Fayette, Hardeman, Lauderdale, McNairy, and Tipton	Mark E. Davidson (R)
26th	Chester, Henderson, and Madison	Jody Pickens (R)
27th	Obion and Weakley	Colin Johnson (Ind.)
28th	Crockett, Gibson, and Haywood	Frederick Agree (R)
29th	Dyer and Lake	Danny Goodman, Jr. (Ind.)
30th	Shelby	Steven J. Mulroy (D)
31st	Van Buren and Warren	Christopher R. Stanford (R)
32nd	Williamson	Hans L. Schwendimann (R)

Source:^[10][11]

Local government

Main article: List of municipalities in Tennessee

See also: List of counties in Tennessee and List of municipalities in Tennessee § List of incorporated cities and towns

Tennessee is divided into political jurisdictions designated as counties, which derive all of their power from the state. Incorporated cities and towns are those that have been granted home rule, possessing a local government in the form of a city or town council.

County Mayors

Tennessee's current county mayors by partisanship

All 95 counties of Tennessee
Party Republican Independent Democratic By party[a] 58 32[b] 5 Affiliation[c] 77 12 6
Mayors by party Mayors by affiliation As of 2025      Republican      Independent      Democratic      Republican affiliated      Democratic affiliated

In Tennessee, the county mayor — sometimes referred to as the county executive in certain areas — serves as the chief executive officer of the county government. The county mayor is responsible for overseeing the administration of county departments, managing the county budget, and representing the county in official matters. County mayors are elected to four-year terms, with elections typically held during the August general elections.^[12] The structure of these elections varies by county; some counties conduct nonpartisan elections, in which candidates do not run with formal party affiliations, while others hold partisan elections, allowing candidates to be nominated and run under political parties.^[13]

National government

See also: United States congressional delegations from Tennessee

The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Tennessee was the sixteenth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on June 21, 1796. Tennessee elects two United States Senators and nine members of the United States House of Representatives.

See also

• Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville
• History of Tennessee
• Constitution of Tennessee
• State governments of the United States
• Political party strength in Tennessee
• Elections in Tennessee

Notes

1. This count includes mayors elected in partisan elections, while categorizing those elected in nonpartisan elections and those who ran as Independents as Independents.
2. In some counties, mayors may be affiliated with a political party but were elected in nonpartisan races or ran as Independents. For the purposes of the first map, these officials are classified as Independents.
3. This count includes mayors elected in partisan elections, as well as mayors who ran in nonpartisan elections but are affiliated with a political party, and those who ran as Independents but have either been affiliated with a party, endorsed a party, or received endorsements from party officials for their election.