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WASHINGTON — Democrats will regain control of the U.S. House early next year, after voters throughout the country rejected the policies that Republicans and President Donald Trump implemented during the last two years. The Associated Press, which States Newsroom looks to for the projected winner of congressional…
Tennessee Democrats flipped six state House seats during Tuesday’s election and nearly wiped out the existing Rutherford County delegation as three of five Republicans lost their races. Democrats still remain in the superminority in Tennessee’s state House, but the victory marked the first time the party has gained…
As the night wore on in Chattanooga and election results poured in, a crowd of supporters at Jerri Green’s watch party cheered each time the screen displayed a lead for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate over her Republican opponent, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn. In the end, ultimately, Blackburn prevailed with…
Voters across the country administered a sharp reprimand to President Donald Trump and Republicans who hold majorities in Congress, with Democrats gaining comfortable majorities in the Senate and the House. Several U.S. Senate and House races remained uncalled by The Associated Press as Election Day ended on the East…
Democrat Victoria Broderick claimed victory in Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District late Tuesday after unofficial election results showed her with a razor-thin margin of victory to flip a reliably Republican seat occupied by U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais since 2011. DesJarlais had not conceded defeat as of midnight in…
WASHINGTON — In a stunning upset, Democrats ousted Republicans and flipped control of the U.S. Senate Tuesday night, effectively establishing a barricade for President Donald Trump’s agenda for the last two years of his term. Democrats will now have the power to block many of Trump’s nominees, both executive and…
Republican Memphis state Sen. Brent Taylor claimed victory in the race for Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District Tuesday, a district that was redrawn months before the election to give Republicans the upper hand. Taylor narrowly clinched the seat with 111,968 votes (49.63%), about 2,500 votes ahead of Democratic…
Former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, a Republican, won Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District Tuesday, defeating Chaz Molder, the Democratic mayor of Columbia. Hatcher replaces outgoing U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles in the 5th District. He defeated Ogles in the primary, despite President Donald Trump’s…
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn scratched out a victory Tuesday to become the first woman governor in Tennessee history, claiming a mandate to govern conservatively even though she failed to capture a majority vote. Final unofficial reports from the Tennessee Secretary of State showed Blackburn, a former Tennessee lawmaker…
America voted. After the Trump administration pressured election officials, after concerns that armed federal agents would deploy to the polls, after fears U.S. Department of Justice election monitors would intimidate voters — ballots were cast by the millions Tuesday, mostly without incident. Across the United…
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Signs don’t equal votes, state Sen. Bo Watson said Tuesday, standing among dozens of political posterboards in front of a polling location on Signal Mountain in Hamilton County. The Republican has spent two decades in the state Senate and is running for re-election to District 11, which covers…
Tennesseans will elect a new governor on Tuesday and for the first time in state history, it’s almost certain to be a woman. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a veteran of state politics, is the Republican nominee and first-term Memphis City Councilmember Jerri Green is the Democratic one. Beyond that history-making…
WASHINGTON — Tens of millions of Americans have already cast a ballot in the 2026 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress and shape President Donald Trump’s remaining policy agenda. As of Monday, more than 57 million Americans had cast a vote, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab…
Tennessee will elect a new governor in Tuesday’s election, but down-ballot races for the U.S. House and the state legislature could also affect congressional map redrawings and the election of the next state Senate speaker. Polling suggests the Democratic Party nationwide is expected to have a strong night nationally…
Teams of federal election monitors will be present in three Tennessee counties on Tuesday as part of the Trump administration plan to “oversee federal voting protections and investigate potential election fraud,” according to a Justice Department spokesperson. Monitors will be present in Knox, Davidson and Shelby…
WASHINGTON — One day before his party is forecast to lose control of the U.S. House, and possibly the Senate, President Donald Trump gathered guests and press at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to tout the “magnificent” renovation of the monument — a monthslong project plagued by algae, reclosure and false…
American democracy faces one of its biggest stress tests of the modern era, as President Donald Trump’s sprawling campaign for power over elections encounters a firewall of judges, state election workers and voting rights leaders heading into Election Day. A cascade of courtroom losses over the weekend dealt a major…
A Nashville judge temporarily blocked Tennessee officials from denying driver’s licenses and license renewals to immigrants authorized by the federal government to live and work in the United States. Chancellor Russell Perkins, in an order issued Monday, wrote several factors weighed in favor of the temporary…
The Tennessee Supreme Court denied a constitutional challenge to a new state law cutting the Metro Nashville Council in half and, separately, dismissed a case challenging a state takeover of Nashville’s airport authority. The court issued the opinions Monday, giving approval of the legislature’s move to cap Metro…
As concerns rise about the potential for federal influence over the results of next week’s midterm elections, many voting experts and advocates remain confident that the nation’s highly localized systems of administering and counting votes will persevere. Facing sinking approval ratings over high prices, the White…
This story was originally published by The Institute for Public Service Reporting Memphis. Marsha Blackburn brimmed with enthusiasm when she introduced Mitch Graves at a Senate confirmation hearing last fall. A veteran Memphis healthcare executive, Graves had been nominated by President Trump to serve on the board of…
WASHINGTON — When the polls close Tuesday night, the 2026 U.S. election will go down as one of history’s most expensive and extraordinarily ugly midterms — galvanizing record-breaking early voter turnout among a deeply divided electorate. Voters on Saturday crossed the high-water mark of 52.7 million early votes cast…
More than 1.28 million Tennessee voters cast their 2026 midterm ballots during early voting, outpacing the 2022 midterm early voting turnout by 45%. But the total fell about 98,000 votes short of equalling early voting turnout for the 2018 midterms. All counties except Johnson recorded more early votes cast than in…
As the Trump administration waged a public legal fight with California over the ballots of suspected noncitizen voters in mid-October, behind the scenes a federal grand jury in Santa Ana issued a series of subpoenas to election officials in Los Angeles County at federal prosecutors’ urging. The subpoenas demanded a…
It was another financial institution’s commercial that motivated me to create something different. Two busy white, apparently nondisabled, suburban parents were standing on their carefully manicured lawn talking about how they needed to go to the bank to plan for the future of their adult son with Down syndrome. They…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s rallies in Kansas and Iowa this weekend are back on after initial cancellations, States Newsroom confirmed Friday. The Midwest rallies mark the final sprint to Election Day on Nov. 3 — now just four days away — where the GOP is itching to maintain its narrow majority in the U.S.
There is something almost theological about watching a politician suddenly discover grace. State Sen. Brent Taylor, the Republican nominee for Tennessee’s newly redrawn 9th Congressional District, is now asking voters to extend him something he has rarely seemed eager to extend to the people he criticizes: mercy. The…
An immigrant advocacy organization filed a legal challenge on Friday to new Tennessee rules that deny driver’s licenses to immigrants who are legally authorized to work in the United States, arguing the state failed to follow its own rules by abruptly shifting long-standing license requirements. The Tennessee…
Two independent expenditure groups have now spent just under $10 million attacking Tennessee independent gubernatorial candidate David Hatley, with the 2026 election less than five days away. Hatley is running as a “conservative” independent, drawing ire from U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican gubernatorial…
Intrigue is ramping up in advance of a Senate Republican Caucus vote that will choose the next lieutenant governor, the person first in line to succeed an incapacitated governor. Caucus Chairman Ken Yager confirmed Thursday leaders are considering allowing Sen. Brent Taylor, if he wins the 9th District congressional…
The Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to combat noncitizen voting and assert authority over elections came under intense scrutiny in courtrooms across the country on Thursday, as Democrats and voting rights groups alleged federal election interference. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the U.S…
Three major candidates for Tennessee governor agree on at least one thing — it’s harder campaigning as a woman. No woman has served as governor of Tennessee in the 230 years since the inception of the Volunteer State. The first year women running for the office were considered serious competitors was in 2018 when U.S.
Three of the four major Tennessee gubernatorial candidates appeared at a forum one week before the 2026 election in the only statewide nonpartisan forum, sponsored by the Tennessee Press Association and Middle Tennessee State University. Democratic nominee Jerri Green, a member of the Memphis City Council, and…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s rally in Salina, Kansas, on Saturday is canceled, the Kansas Republican Party confirmed to States Newsroom. An appearance scheduled for Sunday in Dubuque, Iowa, was also canceled, the Republican National Committee said in a late Thursday press release. In-person rallies packed…
A Republican congressional candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump dismissed accusations he sent nude pictures as “youthful indiscretions.” In a story published Tuesday by the Nashville Scene, Sen. Brent Taylor stopped short of admitting to sending the pictures after more than one anonymous source said they had…
A federal judge on Wednesday denied a U.S. Department of Justice request that would have forced California to not count the ballots of 20,000 voters the Trump administration alleges are likely noncitizens. The decision sets the case on a course to possibly reach the U.S. Supreme Court within days. In a scathing…
After her two adult daughters were arrested while working at a Memphis nightclub during a sweeping U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in late August, a grandmother suddenly found herself responsible for the care of her eight grandchildren. It’s families like this that The Collective Good Immigrant Pantry —…
Gov. Bill Lee said Wednesday he is seeking more information about new rules imposed by state driver’s license administrators that have prevented immigrants legally authorized to work in the United States — including so-called “Dreamers” — from obtaining or renewing a Tennessee driver’s license. Questioned by…
Three out of four gubernatorial candidates in Tennessee participated Tuesday night in a forum held at Middle Tennessee State University a week before voters elect a new official to the state’s highest office. Democratic nominee Jerri Green and independent candidates David Hatley and Lauren Pinkston attended the…
Tennessee farmers and loggers will be allowed to use tax-exempt diesel — usually limited to off-road vehicles — on public roads through the end of the year, Gov. Bill Lee announced Tuesday. The move is meant to offer some relief during harvest season from high diesel fuel prices amid the war in Iran. The red-colored
Less than a week before Election Day, President Donald Trump’s unprecedented drive for power over elections has set the stage for a series of courtroom fights that could quickly lead to a high-stakes showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court over the limits of federal authority. Democrats and voting rights advocates have…
A crowd of no more than 20 at Souls to the Polls in Bordeaux, a traditionally Black North Nashville community, prayed with Rev. Paula Smith, who invoked the memory of voting rights activists and their sacrifice 60 years ago. About half the crowd were organizers or co-sponsors of the event on Saturday. Even fewer had
WASHINGTON — Tens of millions of Americans have already made their way to the ballot box as early voting is underway in a midterm election that will determine control of the House and the Senate, possibly flipping one or both from Republicans to Democrats. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 34 million people have…
The road construction group building Tennessee’s toll lanes along the I-24 southeast corridor is upping the ante, promising to pay the state nearly $148 billion over 50 years to lock in the deal, six times more than initially guaranteed. The Tennessee Department of Transportation and DriveTN, a consortium led by…
Three of the four major Tennessee gubernatorial candidates appeared at a forum one week before the 2026 election and answered questions on a range of topics, including private school vouchers, data centers and toll lanes. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican nominee and favorite to win the race, declined to…
The U.S. Department of Justice plans to send election monitors to every state ahead of Election Day, expanding a long-standing practice that’s spurred concern this year among Democrats and voting rights advocates because of President Donald Trump’s push to influence elections. The Justice Department for decades has…
Tennessee is rejecting applications for driver’s licenses from immigrants who are authorized by the federal government to work and live in the United States, a shift in policy that could strip thousands of longtime license-holders of the ability to legally drive, immigrant attorneys and advocates said. The surprise…
There’s a race going on in Tennessee that’s not on the ballot. If U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn wins her bid for governor, her vacated seat is up for grabs and open to an appointment by the governor. U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican, is on the ballot for re-election in Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District, but
A member of the Tennessee board overseeing construction of a Nashville tunnel isn’t worried yet about the potential for sinkholes detailed in a new study, but even he is leery it could be flooded by the Cumberland River. Former state Sen. Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro, a member of the newly-formed Subterranean…
Tennessee’s outgoing chief executive of the lottery education corporation told state officials she was optimistic revenue designated for college scholarships won’t keep falling. “I don’t think you’ll see the same level of growth,” said Rebecca Paul, the Tennessee Education Lottery CEO, to the state funding board on…
Anna Golladay, the Democratic candidate for Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District, is no stranger to politics. She first ran for elected office in 2025 for a seat on the Chattanooga City Council, losing in a runoff by 256 votes. Beyond politics, Golladay, a United Methodist pastor, has a history of using her faith to…
President Donald Trump’s 11th-hour campaign to intervene in California’s vote counting encountered its first resistance from federal courts on Monday, with appellate judges ruling against the effort. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against a U.S. Department of Justice request for a…
Michaela Barnett, a Knoxville small business owner and scientist, is attempting to overturn more than a century of Republican domination in Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District by beating U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett in November. Barnett, the Democratic nominee, began thinking about taking Burchett on in 2025 when she…
A Tennessee Democratic lawmaker is calling for election officials to resolve complaints that voting machines are defaulting to candidates they didn’t want to select but stopped short of saying ballots are rigged. “Obviously, this keeps coming up and it needs to be addressed after this election, because it’s not…
Eight days into early voting, turnout was more than 57% higher for Tennessee’s Nov. 3 midterm election than it was in 2022, according to state data. More than 665,600 people cast their ballots as of Thursday, representing 13.85% of registered voters in Tennessee. The early voter turnout still lags behind 2018’s 8-day…
I was raised in Erin, Tennessee, by people who would drive forty minutes with a casserole to a family they had never liked, and I want that said before anything else, because everything I’m about to describe happened inside a place that loved me in the only currency it had on hand. A small town
SPRINGDALE, Pa. — Residents in a small southwestern Pennsylvania town are facing the prospect of a 47-acre data center facility on their doorstep. “Right here behind this fence is where they want to put up the data center, and as you can see, there’s houses right across the street, roughly 100 feet,” said lifelong…
When Patrice Jetter and Garry Wickham became engaged, the first decisions were of small, giddy consequence: where to hold the ceremony, whom to invite, what to wear. But soon enough, a far weightier question eclipsed them all: whether they could afford to marry at all. They learned that, as people with disabilities…
Candidates for Tennessee’s redrawn 5th Congressional district took the stage together Wednesday for what is likely the final time before the Nov. 3 election. Republican Charlie Hatcher and Democrat Chaz Molder clashed on President Donald Trump’s handling of international tariffs, but agreed on the importance of…
A Tennessee Republican lawmaker is reiterating support for public hangings three years after giving a half-baked apology for calling for a return to “hanging from a tree” as a form of capital punishment. State Rep. Paul Sherrell of Sparta said in a recent political forum in McMinnville that a “good hanging right here…
PORTLAND, Ore. — The latest cosponsor of a U.S. House bill to provide single-payer health insurance defeated a Republican incumbent in a suburban and rural Oregon district by fewer than 10,000 votes two years ago. U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum, a Democrat now seeking her second term, doesn’t have the far-left profile of…
As Election Day approaches, top Democrats on the intelligence committees in Congress are preparing for the possibility that President Donald Trump will allege foreign interference to discredit unfavorable results. And they want leading U.S. intelligence officials to be immediately reachable if he does. Sen. Mark…
A federal judge on Wednesday night blocked the Department of Homeland Security from conducting election-related field operations that could sweep up U.S. citizens in nine states. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, an appointee of President Joe Biden in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, issued a…
Tennessee Republican lawmakers are ready to change the state’s death penalty laws in the wake of two botched executions by lethal injection, including a renewed look at electrocution and firing squads. Republican Rep. Jody Barrett of Dickson confirmed this week he is considering sponsoring legislation in 2027 to make…
A Nashville judge temporarily blocked Tennessee health officials from requiring immigration status checks of HIV-positive individuals enrolled in a healthcare safety-net program. Chancellor I’Ashea L. Myles issued the temporary restraining order late Wednesday. The order prevents the Tennessee Department of Health…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s midterm travel blitz will continue in the coming days, with Election Day on Nov. 3 now less than two weeks out, headlining rallies in several states hosting hard-fought Senate contests seen as toss-ups. Trump began his October campaign road trip in GOP-friendly states, but has…
The Memphis City Council on Tuesday voted in favor of a nonbinding resolution calling for the removal of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Tennessee National Guard from the city. The resolution drew dozens of speakers who urged its adoption during a public comment period. It takes aim at the presence of…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to implement a rule that would terminate gender-affirming care for transgender people incarcerated in federal prisons. It means a lower court order that blocked the policy from going into effect will remain in place for…
Candidates for Tennessee’s three newly drawn congressional seats that represent parts of Shelby County raised a combined $4.6 million in the 90 days leading up to October, campaign finance records show. Tennessee’s Republican supermajority redrew the state’s congressional district map in May, splitting Democratic…
President Donald Trump announced Monday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will make $8 billion in one-time payments to American farmers to help offset “temporary market disruptions” and high fuel costs. The announcement comes after repeated requests for relief amid high diesel fuel prices that economists…
The U.S. Department of Justice is intensifying its campaign against voter fraud with a spree of arrests in the final weeks before Election Day, an effort that voting rights advocates warn risks instilling fear among voters. Over the past week, the Justice Department unveiled election-related criminal charges against…
HYANNIS, Neb. — With 19 days until Election Day, Dan Osborn sat across from three skeptical voters in a conference room in this blink-and-you-miss-it rural Nebraska town. Osborn, a bearded former union leader and Navy veteran, wants to become the first independent U.S. senator from Nebraska since World War II by…
A Tennessee judicial panel dismissed a legal challenge of the state’s private-school vouchers, finding that the constitution doesn’t prohibit creation of the $260 million-plus program. The three-judge panel dismissed the entire case filed in 2025 by a group of parents who said Tennessee’s Education Freedom Scholarship…
Dan Kuebler is out on a hot August morning on what used to be his farm. Kuebler grew fruits and vegetables on 30 acres in Ashland, Missouri, and for decades he sold his produce at the Columbia Farmers Market. “Ashland was a little, bitty, sleepy town in ’77 when we bought it,” Kuebler said. Then,
In August, Tennessee organizations that aid low-income individuals living with HIV received a surprise memo from the state’s health department: “Effective immediately,” the memo said, “no patients without documentation of citizenship or legal residency may be newly enrolled” in many of the services provided through…
My parents homeschooled me through 11th grade to ensure religion would play an essential role in my upbringing. Then they sent me to public school for 12th grade and a public college to ensure I had a well-rounded education and a fulsome understanding of how civil, secular America worked. What would my education, or…
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters Did you know search engines like Google are changing the way you see news? Keep Chalkbeat’s valuable education coverage at the top of your feeds by clicking here and checking the box next to our name. The state…
Democrats have used President Donald Trump’s unpopularity to expand the midterm map, and analysts project the party carries momentum heading into the final two weeks of the election cycle, even as Democrats are expected to flip fewer U.S. House seats than wave elections this century. The Cook Political Report with Amy…
WASHINGTON — Immigrants living in the United States with humanitarian status from Ukraine and Sudan will retain their deportation protections and work authorizations for now, the Department of Homeland Security said over the weekend. More than 100,000 Ukrainians and roughly 2,000 Sudanese with Temporary Protected…
A Tennessee Republican senator says the Senate GOP caucus has “no basis” to expel her for endorsing an independent gubernatorial candidate as a Senate speakership vote approaches. Sen. Janice Bowling, a 14-year lawmaker from Tullahoma, told the Lookout that she is not concerned about a potential vote by the Senate…
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche joined federal and state leaders in Tennessee on Friday to tout the record of the Memphis Safe Task Force a little more than one year after President Donald Trump first established the multi-agency crime-fighting force. Overall crime in Memphis is now at a 25-year low, Blanche said…
Party control is up for grabs in 15 state legislative chambers across the country as Republicans are increasingly on the defensive this midterm election cycle, a new analysis found. The nonpartisan newsletter Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics released its final analysis of state…
With the general election just 16 days away and early voting underway in dozens of states, people across the nation took to the streets Saturday to urge their friends and neighbors to get out and vote. The No Kings: Vote Early Day of Action held more than 2,500 events in all 50 states and the
WASHINGTON — A couple hundred people carrying decorated umbrellas walked from the former Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House to the U.S. Capitol lawn Saturday for a No Kings get-out-the-vote event in the nation’s capital. No Kings, a coalition that has drawn millions of Americans to protests three times…
The fourth ‘No ‘Kings’ event since President Donald Trump took office for his second term in 2025, held just 17 days before the November 3 midterm election, focused on turning out voters across Tennessee. But even as demonstrators at rallies in the state talked about the importance of proactive voting, many continue…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has a flurry of travel on deck in the final frantic weeks leading up to the end of the midterm elections, in which the GOP is vying to maintain its control of both the U.S. House and Senate. But that outlook looks increasingly less favorable for Republicans, as analysts say
A road-building group that lost out on Tennessee’s toll lane project is challenging the state’s award to a consortium led by a Spain-based company that promised the state a massive amount of money. A group of companies called 24 Choice Lanes Partners says in the filing the Tennessee Department of Transportation gave…
Campaign finance reports released Wednesday show Tennessee’s Democratic party and legislators pouring tens of thousands of dollars into select campaigns in an effort to flip Republican house seats. Here’s a run-down of the most competitive races. Republican incumbent John Gillespie is once again facing Democratic…
Gov. Bill Lee and Nashville airport folks moved “faster than grease through a goose” this week to stop media questions that dared stray from their Air France announcement. Blame Davy Crockett for that time-tested idiom. When a Lookout reporter tried to go “off topic” during a press gaggle after Wednesday’s main press…
The Trump administration sought a federal court order Thursday to force California to purge 20,000 people from its voter rolls over claims they are not U.S. citizens, a major development less than three weeks before the midterm elections. The U.S. Department of Justice sued the state, asking a judge to validate its…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump Thursday announced that the execution of a man convicted of the Fort Hood shooting will not be livestreamed, a reversal after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that Nidal Hasan’s death by firing squad would be public. “I think streaming the execution for all to see might…
After being banned from Memphis City Council meetings, state Rep. Justin J. Pearson filed suit Tuesday against the city alleging the action violates the First Amendment. In the suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court of West Tennessee, Pearson and six other plaintiffs, including his brother, Keshaun Pearson…
Independent candidate David Hatley loaned his gubernatorial bid another $5 million in September, bringing his total self-funding to $12 million less than three weeks before the November election. Hatley’s campaign holds a significant cash advantage over his rivals, as the latest state campaign finance reports due…
Editor’s note: This commentary includes descriptions of botched executions. Tennessee’s botched execution of convicted murderer Christa Pike has left behind some lingering and disturbing questions. As for Pike, she was hospitalized with serious injuries, now is in a prison rehabilitation center and as she heals, the…
WASHINGTON — The No Kings movement that has brought millions to the streets across the United States three times since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term is staging its next event at the polls. Organizers across hundreds of advocacy groups will pull together thousands of events nationwide Saturday to…
The U.S. Department of Justice is demanding California not count ballots from voters it says are suspected noncitizens, a move by the Trump administration to apply last-minute pressure as voting begins in the midterm elections. The Justice Department on Tuesday gave California election officials 48 hours to remove…
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Wednesday a state takeover of the Nashville airport authority didn’t hinder negotiations with Air France for a nonstop flight to Paris. Lee, who signed a measure into law giving Tennessee leaders a majority of appointments to five airport boards statewide, said the Nashville board “made…