{"id":2013761,"date":"2023-08-27T17:58:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-27T21:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-republican-governor-who-never-lost-an-election-dead-at-87\/"},"modified":"2023-08-27T18:00:49","modified_gmt":"2023-08-27T22:00:49","slug":"former-republican-governor-who-never-lost-an-election-dead-at-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-republican-governor-who-never-lost-an-election-dead-at-87\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-GOP Governor, Unbeaten in Elections, Dies at 87"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fformer-republican-governor-who-never-lost-an-election-dead-at-87%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2013761&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Former Republican\u2064 Governor \u2063Who Never Lost an \u2064Election\u2063 Dead at \u206487<\/h2>\n<p>Don Sundquist, \u2062a Republican who was twice elected governor of Tennessee and also served 12 years in Congress,\u200d died Sunday. He was 87.<\/p>\n<p>Sundquist died at Baptist East\u200d Hospital in Memphis on Sunday morning, according to a family spokeswoman. He died peacefully, \u200bsurrounded by family members, following surgery and a short illness, according to a statement Sunday \u200dmorning from \u2062Tennessee\u2064 Gov. Bill Lee\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe took great pride in bringing people together, regardless of differences, to work together for the common\u2062 good,\u201d Lee said in the statement.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Sundquist never lost an election in eight tries in Tennessee \u2014 six for Congress and two for \u200cgovernor \u2014 \u2064but he emerged as a\u2063 divisive figure\u200b during \u2064his final years in office as the state feuded over whether to create an income tax.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Sundquist was elected to Congress\u200c in 1982, representing parts of West and Middle Tennessee.<\/p>\n<p>He kept the seat until running for governor in 1994 when \u2062he \u200dbecame Tennessee\u2019s 47th chief executive.\u2064 He easily won re-election\u200c in 1998.<\/p>\n<h3>Accomplishments as Governor<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>During\u2064 his first term \u200das governor, Sundquist\u200c reformed the state\u2019s welfare system through a program he\u2064 called \u201cFamilies First.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>He favored privatizing\u200d the state\u2019s prison system.<\/li>\n<li>In his second \u200cterm, Sundquist proposed repealing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/san-franciscos-homeless-part-iii\/\" title=\"SF Homeless, Part III\">sales\u200c tax<\/a> \u2063on groceries, saving each Tennessee family of \u2063four nearly $500 per year.<\/li>\n<li>He also recommended repealing the\u2064 franchise and excise taxes\u200d and replacing them with a \u201cfair business tax\u201d that treats all companies the same.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>His \u2063popularity began \u2062to wane, though, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-republican-governor-who-never-lost-an-election-dead-at-87\/\" title=\"Ex-GOP Governor, Unbeaten in Elections, Dies at 87\">state financial troubles emerged<\/a>\u2063 during soaring \u200ccosts for TennCare, the \u200bstate\u2019s effort \u200dto provide\u200b health care for the uninsured \u200bby expanding \u200bMedicaid. He proposed a \u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/im-most-proud-of-getting-our-kids-back-at-school-floridas-desantis-on-which-policy-mattered-most\/\" title=\"\u2018I\u2019m Most Proud Of Getting Our Kids Back At School\u2019: Florida\u2019s DeSantis On Which Policy Mattered Most\">state income tax<\/a>, an idea usually associated with\u200b Democrats that set off a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dem-rep-smith-id-be-surprised-if-oil-companies-werent-profiteering\/\" title=\"Dem Rep. Smith: 'I'd Be Surprised' if Oil Companies Weren't Profiteering\">long-running battle<\/a> over state finances.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Sundquist was so unpopular among Republicans that he avoided nearly\u2062 all\u2063 public \u200dappearances with GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush in 2000.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In Congress, Sundquist voted against banning \u2064assault \u2063weapons, helped\u200d write and pass a comprehensive ethics code and\u200b supported a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/josh-hammer-the-death-of-the-bush-and-cheney-political-dynasties\/\" title=\"Josh Hammer: The Death of the Bush and Cheney Political Dynasties\">capital gains tax cut<\/a> \u200cand a balanced \u2063budget\u2064 amendment. \u200dHe opposed \u200dthe 1990 Civil Rights Act.<\/p>\n<p>In his first race for \u200cCongress, he upset\u200d Democrat Bob Clement \u2014\u2062 the son \u2063of former Gov.\u2063 Frank Clement and the heir\u2063 to a famous \u200bname in \u2064Tennessee politics.<\/p>\n<p>The son of a welder, Sundquist\u2062 was born March 15, 1936, in\u200d Moline, Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>Before serving in Congress, Sundquist founded Graphic Sales \u2063of America\u2062 Corp. of \u2063Memphis, a printing\u2063 and advertising \u2063company. He also put together investors\u2062 to establish \u2062a bank in Germantown and later joined with others in opening a Memphis-style barbecue restaurant\u2062 in Arlington, Virginia.<\/p>\n<p>He\u200c was\u200d national \u200dchairman of the Young Republican National Federation from 1971 to 1973 and spent almost 20\u200b years doing grassroots work for the GOP.<\/p>\n<p>Sundquist was the first member of his family to attend college, \u200cbagging\u200d groceries to help pay\u200d for\u2063 tuition at Augustana College in Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>After graduating from\u2062 Augustana in 1957, he served two years in the Navy. Upon leaving the Navy,\u200c Sundquist went to work for\u2062 Jostens, Inc., a scholastic products company in Shelbyville, where he rose to division manager\u200b before moving to become partner and president of Graphic Sales.<\/p>\n<p>He defeated Phil Bredesen, then mayor of Nashville, for \u2062governor in 1994. In 1998 he had token \u200bopposition,\u2063 defeating John Jay Hooker Jr. in the general election.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic\">The Western Journal has \u200breviewed this Associated Press story and may\u2064 have\u2063 altered it prior to publication \u2063to \u200censure \u200bthat it meets our editorial standards.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/ap-former-republican-governor-never-lost-election-dead-87\/\">Former \u2064Republican \u200dGovernor Who Never Lost an Election Dead at 87<\/a> appeared first\u200d on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don Sundquist, a Republican who served as Tennessee&#8217;s governor and in Congress, passed away at 87. He peacefully died at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis, surrounded by loved ones, after undergoing surgery and battling a brief illness, as confirmed by a family spokesperson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":2013762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2013761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2013761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2013762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2013761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2013761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2013761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}