Charlotte Burks

Charlotte Gentry Burks (born October 3, 1942) is a farmer and Democratic party politician in Tennessee who represented the 15th district as State Senator from 1998 until 2015.

Charlotte Burks
Member of the Tennessee Senate
from the 15th district
In office
1998–2015
Preceded byTommy Burks
Succeeded byPaul Bailey
Personal details
Born (1942-10-03) October 3, 1942
Gainesboro, Tennessee
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseTommy Burks (died 1998)
OccupationFarmer, politician

Burks was born in 1942 in Gainesboro, Tennessee, and lives in Monterey, Tennessee.[1] She was married to Tommy Burks, a Tennessee State Senator. They had three children together, one of whom is former Putnam County Executive Kim Blaylock. She also has 11 grandchildren.[2]

Career

In 1998, after Burks' husband was assassinated during an election campaign by his Republican challenger Byron (Low-Tax) Looper, she became a write-in candidate for his seat. Although she did not campaign, family members and friends campaigned extensively on her behalf, and she defeated Looper by a landslide margin,[3] receiving 95% of the vote[4] and becoming the first write-in candidate to win a seat in the Tennessee State Senate. She began her Senate service with the 101st General Assembly.

Burks was reelected in 2002 and 2006 with no substantive opposition. In 2010, when Republicans picked up many seats in the General Assembly, Burks won re-election to a fourth four-year term by a margin of just 183 votes over her Republican opponent, Gary Steakley.[3] Burks carried five of the six counties in the largely rural district, losing only in Cumberland County. An independent candidate placed third in the vote.[3] Steakley challenged the results, claiming irregularities on election day, but a State Senate committee found that there was insufficient evidence to question the outcome.[5][6]

In the Senate, Burks served as the secretary of the education committee; as a member of the joint study economic development; government operations; select on children and youth; and the environment, conservation, and tourism committees. On September 8, 2013 she announced her retirement and that she would not run for reelection to the State Senate in 2014.[7] On Election Day, the Republican candidate won the seat.[8]

References
  1. "About Charlotte". Re-Elect Charlotte Burks (website). Archived from the original on September 7, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
  2. Senator Charlotte Burks - District 15, Tennessee General Assembly website, accessed May 15, 2011
  3. Mary Jo Denton, Burks re-elected to senate seat, Herald-Citizen (Cookeville, Tennessee), November 2010. Accessed May 15, 2011.
  4. Associated Press, Widow wins Tenn. Senate seat over man charged with killing her husband, November 4, 1998
  5. Chas Sisk Committee upholds Charlotte Burks’ re-election, In Session section of The Tennessean website, April 28, 2011
  6. Liz Engel Clark, Election contest bends in Burks' favor, Herald Citizen (Cookeville, Tennessee), May 1, 2011
  7. Staff reporter (September 9, 2013). "Charlotte Burks Announces Retirement From Senate". WJLE. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  8. Farmer, Blake (November 5, 2014). "Tennessee's Republican Supermajority Gets Even Bigger". WPLN. Retrieved December 23, 2015. State Rep. Paul Bailey easily won the seat of retiring Sen. Charlotte Burks of Monterey, north of Cookeville.
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