Holly McCall to challenge Mary Mancini for Tennessee Democratic Party chair

Tennessee Democrats will have a contested election to decide who leads the party for the next two years.

Holly McCall, a longtime Democratic operative and chairwoman of the Williamson County Democratic Party, announced on Wednesday she will run for Tennessee Democratic Party chair.

It sets up a challenge against Mary Mancini, the TNDP chairwoman for the past four years, who has said she will seek a third term.

McCall announced her candidacy in a letter to the Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Committee, which will vote on the next party chair at its Jan. 12 meeting. 

"I’ll be clear: I like Mary Mancini," McCall wrote. "She’s my friend and we’ve stood beside each other during some tough times.

"But, I also feel strongly we need to undertake some tactics and strategies we aren’t currently using if we are going to start winning our state back."

She said part of her vision for the party includes better bench-building by focusing on county parties and picking off "hyper-local down-ballot races."

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Success in Williamson a roadmap for state?

As other priorities, McCall cited better suburban and rural strategies, more advanced field operations and strengthening finances and fundraising through a "true small donor program."

McCall, the former spokeswoman of Music City Center who works professionally in communications, ran unsuccessfully in 2016 against Republican state Rep. Sam Witson for the Williamson County seat formerly held by Rep. Jeremy Durham.

She's led the Williamson County Democratic Party since 2017. During that time, she said she's implemented a "hyper-local candidate recruitment strategy" in one of the state's biggest Republican strongholds which resulted in 19 Democratic candidates on the August ballot.

"With this focus on small, local races, Democratic voter turnout was up in Williamson County 381 percent in August," she said.

McCall, a native of Franklin, has worked on the campaigns of Charles Robert Bone for mayor in 2015, Councilman John Cooper and Hillary for Tennessee in 2016. She also serves as recruitment chair for Emerge Tennessee, which seeks to train Democratic women to run for elected office.

Other potential candidates to lead TN Dems

Christopher Hale of Rutherford County, who lost in the Democratic primary for Tennessee's 4th Congressional District in August, has said he's also considering running for state party chair.

Former Tennessee Democratic House Leader Craig Fitzhugh hasn't ruled out a chairman bid but has indicated he's leaning against it. 

Democrats had high hopes for the 2018 election cycle after fielding their best statewide candidates in years in gubernatorial candidate Karl Dean, former Nashville mayor, and former Gov. Phil Bredesen, who ran for U.S. Senate. 

But Bredesen lost to Republican Marsha Blackburn by 11 percentage points in the Senate race and Dean lost by an even greater 21 percentage points in the race for governor against Republican Bill Lee.

Mancini has sought to put a positive face on events, noting a one-seat gain in the Tennessee House of Representatives, where Republicans still enjoy a supermajority. She's also said Democratic candidates for state House and Senate across the state outperformed previous Democratic performances even though they lost.

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Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236, [email protected] and on Twitter @joeygarrison.