2018 TN Senate race: on Principles & Values

James Mackler: Wife is a rabbi at Congregation Ohabai Sholom

Together the Macklers are a power couple, if you will, at the convergence of religion and politics, working to help Tennessee, and the LGBT community, reach a better state.

In 2017, James resigned from his job and ran for U.S. Senate because he saw politics in Washington hurting Tennesseans. But, in December of 2017, Mackler stepped aside to support Governor Phil Bredesen.

Since withdrawing from the race, James has returned to practicing law, but he has also founded a political action committee (PAC) known as Believe in Service, an appropriate name for someone who believes in raising the issue of national service.

Phil Bredesen: 1960s scholarship to Harvard; millionaire businessman at 43

Getting into Harvard University on scholarship in the early 1960s, Bredesen earned an undergraduate degree in physics. He later worked for several companies, married and then divorced.

He then met Andrea Conte, a nurse. The couple married, then moved to Nashville in 1975 when Conte was recruited to work for HCA, the Nashville-based hospital company. After arriving, Bredesen focused on creating his own company, HealthAmerica Corp., an insurance company.

When the company sold in 1986, he became became a multimillionaire at age 43. The businessman says he got his taste for politics while at Harvard, inspired by President John F. Kennedy, also a Harvard graduate. Bredesen ran as a Democrat in 1969 for a Massachusetts Senate seat against a Republican incumbent. He lost.