Tim Burchett

It is one of the few ancestrally Republican districts in the South; the GOP and its predecessors have held it without interruption since 1859.

For this reason, the Republican primary has long been reckoned as the real contest in this district.

Timothy Floyd Burchett (born August 25, 1964) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative for TN's 2nd congressional district, based in Knoxville, serving since 2019.

A Republican, Burchett was formerly mayor of Knox County, Tennessee.

Burchett is a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, where he was born in 1964.

He attended West Hills Elementary School, Bearden Junior High School, and Bearden High School.

After graduating from Bearden High School in 1981, he enrolled in the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in education.

He is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Burchett's first election to public office was in 1994, when he won a seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

He served in the House for two two-year terms, from 1995 to 1998.

In 1998, he won a four-year term in the Tennessee State Senate, representing the 7th district.

He succeeded Clyde Coulter "Bud" Gilbert.

He was reelected twice, serving a total of three four-year terms, from 1999 to 2010.

In 1999, Burchett received national media attention for sponsoring a bill to legalize the eating of roadkill, wild animals killed by vehicles, before notifying the county game warden.

He defended the proposal as a "common-sense thing" intended to prevent edible meat from being wasted.

Eating roadkill was already legal – as it is in most places – but required prior notification of the county game warden.

Burchett's bill allowed processing and consumption of roadkill before notifying the warden.

Burchett proposed the bill after being contacted by a constituent who had been penalized for giving a needy family the meat from a deer his vehicle had accidentally hit.

In 2006, while a state senator, Burchett failed to report six political action committee checks totaling $3,300.

The Registry of Election Finance did not fine him.

Burchett sponsored a bill in 2006 to make illegal "possessing, producing, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing with intent to produce, manufacture, or distribute the active chemical ingredient in the hallucinogenic plant Salvia divinorum in the state of Tennessee."

He said, "We have enough problems with illegal drugs as it is without people promoting getting high from some glorified weed that's been brought up from Mexico. The only people I’ve heard from who are opposed to making it illegal are those who are getting stoned on it."

The bill was signed into law on May 19, 2006, and went into effect on July 1, 2006.

Burchett originally wanted to make violations a felony offense, but the bill was amended during its passage to make it a Class A misdemeanor.

In a news report published shortly before the signing of the bill by Governor Phil Bredesen, Burchett was quoted as saying, "it's not that popular but I'm one of those who believes in closing the barn door before the cows get out.... in certain hands, it could be very dangerous, even lethal."

A store owner who had stopped selling the herb due to Burchett's bill said that he saw little point in banning salvia, "I have no idea why it's being outlawed. It's a sage. People in South America have been using it for years and years."

The same report also gave the general counterargument of salvia proponents that legislation banning Salvia divinorum reflects a cultural bias, as there are fewer prohibitions on more addictive substances such as alcohol and nicotine, and questioned how effective the bill will be, pointing out that Salvia divinorum has no odor and is easy to grow, so enforcement will be difficult.

In 2008, while still a state senator, he was fined $250 for failing to disclose three PAC contributions that totaled $1,500.

Burchett became Knox County mayor in September 2010, succeeding Mike Ragsdale, who left office due to term limits.

Burchett defeated former Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison in the Republican primary and Democratic nominee Ezra Maize in the general election.

On February 10, 2012, Burchett appeared on WBIR-TV and officially announced that the county's first "cash mob" would be held at the Emery's 5 & 10 store in South Knoxville.

The cash mob gained national attention, and was mentioned in Time magazine.

In 2012, Tennessee's Registry of Election Finance unanimously decided to take no action against Burchett regarding an inquiry into his campaign disclosure forms.

When 30-year incumbent Jimmy Duncan announced his retirement in July 2017, Burchett entered a crowded seven-way Republican primary to succeed him.

He defeated his nearest challenger, state representative Jimmy Matlock, by just under 12 percentage points.

He faced Democratic nominee Renee Hoyos in the November general election.

The 2nd has long been a Republican stronghold.

With a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+20, it is one of the nation's most Republican districts, and tied for the third-most Republican district in Tennessee.

He served in the Tennessee General Assembly, first in the Tennessee House of Representatives, in which he represented Tennessee's 18th district.

He later served in the Tennessee State Senate, representing the 7th district, part of Knox County.