James O. Naifeh (born June 16, 1939) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party from the State of

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. He served as the

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of the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

from 1991 to 2009, serving longer in that position than anyone else in Tennessee history.

Early life

Naifeh is a second-generation Lebanese-American from Covington, a town north of

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. His family was in the grocery business. After graduating from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

, Naifeh served in the

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as an infantry officer.

Political career

Election to the House

He was first elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1974, and was Speaker from 1991 to 2009. He represents House District 81, which includes most of Tipton County and all of Haywood County. Prior to his election as Speaker served in other positions in the Democratic Caucus such as chairman of the Rules Committee, Majority

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, and chairman of the Rural

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Democratic Caucus.

Marriage

From 1995 to 2008, Naifeh was married to Betty Anderson, considered by many Tennessee political observers to be the most influential

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in the state.

Contested 2004 election

In December 2002,

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physician Jesse Cannon, a Republican and Naifeh's personal doctor, announced that he would oppose Naifeh in 2004. On November 2, 2004, Naifeh defeated Cannon by a margin of approximately 58% to 42%.

Republican majority in 2008

In the 2008 November elections Republicans won the majority of the state House, winning 50 of the 99 seats, with the Democrats holding 49. This is the first time the GOP has had a majority in the Tennessee House since 1971, and the first time both House and Senate have had Republican majorities since

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. This ended Naifeh's long term as Speaker, but the Republicans' narrow majority in the House did not allow them to elect their preferred Speaker. While 49 Republicans voted for

Jason Mumpower Jason Everett Mumpower (born September 22, 1973) currently serves as Tennessee's 35th Comptroller of the Treasury. He was first elected to the position by the Tennessee General Assembly on January 13, 2021. He is responsible for leading the Comp ...

, the 49 Democrats and Republican Representative Kent Williams voted for Williams to succeed Naifeh as Speaker. Naifeh, who was chairing the House for the last time, helped to engineer Williams' election by instructing the House clerk to depart from the normal practice of conducting a

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of the members in alphabetical order, instead calling first on the Democrats, then on the Republicans. This allowed Williams to vote last, so that before he voted he knew that his vote for himself would be the deciding vote."Kent who? Dazzling maneuver makes backbencher speaker," ''The Tennessee Journal'' Vol. 35, No. 3, January 16, 2009

Retirement

On March 8, 2012; Naifeh announced he would not run for a 20th term in November.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naifeh, James 1939 births Living people People from Covington, Tennessee University of Tennessee alumni Military personnel from Tennessee American politicians of Lebanese descent Speakers of the Tennessee House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly 20th-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly