Tennessee

Placeholder

Highest-power issue: Jail for regulatory offenses that require no criminal intent. Current recommendation: Toss-up.

1. Jail for regulatory offenses that require no criminal intent · power 80
2. Warrantless long-term location tracking · power 80
3. Emergency orders that criminalize peaceful trade and assembly · power 48
4. Qualified immunity when officials injure nonviolent people · power 12

Judiciary

Placeholder

Judges rule on warrants, constitutional limits, and how a penalty is applied. They do not rewrite a clear statute, and this scorecard does not ask them to.

Warrantless long-term location tracking

Placeholder. Agencies collect a person's movements for weeks without a warrant and use the file to prosecute nonviolent offenses. The tracking is the intrusion; the downstream penalty is often a felony. Sample entry for Tennessee.

Harm: 4
Reach: 4
Office impact: 5
Power: 80

Conduct 4 and penalty severity 4 (Felony imprisonment) blend 60/40 into harm 4. Power 80 = 4 × 4 × 5.

Who can act

Judges apply the text and the constitution. They can refuse an unreasonable search, limit a forfeiture, or strike a penalty that exceeds the charter. They cannot supply a mental state the legislature deleted. Office impact is high when the dispute is constitutional and low when the statute is plain. On location tracking, judges decide whether a warrant was required and whether the file can be used. This is their issue more than anyone else's. Placeholder analysis, not a description of any current officeholder.

Winnability is Wes Ives's chance in this office, 4 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Wes Ives is fictional.

2026 judicial elections

Endorse Wes Ives

Placeholder judiciary race for the 2026 cycle in Tennessee. Candidates are fictional. Alignments come from the “clear” profile so the mix of calls is reproducible.

Formula: Endorse Wes Ives (The lead clears the toss-up gap.)

Each segment is issue power times alignment. Alignment runs from −1 to +1. Right of zero, the candidate would narrow the penalty. Left of zero, they would keep or expand it. Fictional candidates.

Fictional candidate

Wes Ives

Limited-government placeholder · Winnability 4 · Score 92

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Limited-government placeholder.

Fictional candidate

Beth Lombard

Enforcement-first placeholder · Winnability 3 · Score -40

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Enforcement-first placeholder.

Placeholder call for Tennessee, Judiciary. The issue in this office is “Warrantless long-term location tracking.” Wes Ives leads Beth Lombard after winnability weighting, with a winnability of 4 out of 5, and the gap clears the toss-up rule. The editorial call matches the formula. Wes Ives is not a real candidate.

All calls for this state

Legislature

Placeholder

The legislature drafts the statute, sets the penalty and the mental state, funds the agencies, and can sunset an emergency power. On most of these issues it holds the text.

Jail for regulatory offenses that require no criminal intent

Placeholder. A business owner or a license holder can be jailed, or carry a criminal record, for breaking a rule that does not require knowledge or intent. The conduct is ordinary work. Sample entry for Tennessee.

Harm: 4
Reach: 4
Office impact: 5
Power: 80

Conduct 4 and penalty severity 3 (Misdemeanor, up to a year) blend 60/40 into harm 4. Power 80 = 4 × 4 × 5.

Who can act

The legislature writes the penalty, the mental state, and the budget. On the question of how severely the law punishes peaceful conduct, this is usually the office with the text in its hands. One seat matters only as part of a majority, which is what winnability has to reflect. On a missing mental-state element, the legislature is the only office that can put knowledge back into the code as a default rule. Placeholder analysis, not a description of any current officeholder.

Winnability is Peter Alm's chance in this office, 1 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Peter Alm is fictional.

2026 legislative elections

Toss-up

Placeholder legislature race for the 2026 cycle in Tennessee. Candidates are fictional. Alignments come from the “longshot” profile so the mix of calls is reproducible.

Formula: Toss-up — The better-aligned candidate is below the winnability floor. Leading score: Peter Alm. (The better-aligned candidate is below the winnability floor.)

Each segment is issue power times alignment. Alignment runs from −1 to +1. Right of zero, the candidate would narrow the penalty. Left of zero, they would keep or expand it. Fictional candidates.

Fictional candidate

Peter Alm

Limited-government placeholder · Winnability 1 · Score 32

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Limited-government placeholder.

Fictional candidate

Zora Tatum

Enforcement-first placeholder · Winnability 5 · Score -52

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Enforcement-first placeholder.

Placeholder call for Tennessee, Legislature. The issue in this office is “Jail for regulatory offenses that require no criminal intent.” Editors mark a toss-up because Peter Alm has the better liberty alignment, and a winnability of 1, which is below the floor the coalition will endorse. The better-aligned candidate is below the winnability floor. Peter Alm and Zora Tatum are fictional.

All calls for this state

Attorney general

Placeholder

The attorney general decides appeals, civil enforcement, and often whether the state will defend a statute. Charging power over ordinary crimes may sit with county attorneys. The entry says so when that split matters.

Emergency orders that criminalize peaceful trade and assembly

Placeholder scenario. During a declared emergency, an order makes it a crime to open a peaceful business or hold a peaceful gathering, with no separate violent act required. Sample entry for Tennessee.

Harm: 4
Reach: 4
Office impact: 3
Power: 48

Conduct 4 and penalty severity 3 (Misdemeanor, up to a year) blend 60/40 into harm 4. Power 48 = 4 × 4 × 3.

Who can act

An attorney general rarely rewrites a statute. The office decides which cases to bring, which appeals to pursue, which settlements to accept, and, in many states, whether to defend a statute at all. That is power over how a penalty is used, not over the fact that it exists. On an emergency order, the attorney general defends or declines to defend the order and advises agencies on how hard to enforce it. Placeholder analysis, not a description of any current officeholder.

Winnability is Paula Serrano's chance in this office, 4 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Paula Serrano is fictional.

2026 attorney general election

Endorse Paula Serrano

Placeholder attorney general race for the 2026 cycle in Tennessee. Candidates are fictional. Alignments come from the “clear” profile so the mix of calls is reproducible.

Formula: Endorse Paula Serrano (The lead clears the toss-up gap.)

Each segment is issue power times alignment. Alignment runs from −1 to +1. Right of zero, the candidate would narrow the penalty. Left of zero, they would keep or expand it. Fictional candidates.

Fictional candidate

Paula Serrano

Limited-government placeholder · Winnability 4 · Score 55.2

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Limited-government placeholder.

Fictional candidate

Alan Pryor

Enforcement-first placeholder · Winnability 3 · Score -24

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Enforcement-first placeholder.

Placeholder call for Tennessee, Attorney general. The issue in this office is “Emergency orders that criminalize peaceful trade and assembly.” Paula Serrano leads Alan Pryor after winnability weighting, with a winnability of 4 out of 5, and the gap clears the toss-up rule. The editorial call matches the formula. Paula Serrano is not a real candidate.

All calls for this state

Governor

Placeholder

The governor signs or vetoes statutes, issues and withdraws executive orders, appoints agency heads, and proposes the budget. The office does not write a criminal penalty on its own.

Qualified immunity when officials injure nonviolent people

Placeholder. An official uses force or a seizure against a person who was not violent, and immunity ends the civil case before a jury sees it. The severity score treats the lost remedy as a property-level harm, not a prison term. That is an editorial judgment, and it is labeled as one. Sample entry for Tennessee.

Harm: 3
Reach: 2
Office impact: 2
Power: 12

Conduct 4 and penalty severity 2 (License, property, or forfeiture) blend 60/40 into harm 3. Power 12 = 3 × 2 × 2.

Who can act

A governor does not write the statute. The office can veto a penalty, refuse to expand it, appoint the people who enforce it, and propose the budget that feeds it. Where the harm lives in an order or an agency rule, the governor's pen is the direct instrument. On qualified immunity, a governor can set training and discipline inside the executive. The immunity doctrine itself is not an executive order. Placeholder analysis, not a description of any current officeholder.

Winnability is Lila Hartman's chance in this office, 1 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Lila Hartman is fictional.

2026 gubernatorial election

Toss-up

Placeholder governor race for the 2026 cycle in Tennessee. Candidates are fictional. Alignments come from the “longshot” profile so the mix of calls is reproducible.

Formula: Toss-up — The better-aligned candidate is below the winnability floor. Leading score: Lila Hartman. (The better-aligned candidate is below the winnability floor.)

Each segment is issue power times alignment. Alignment runs from −1 to +1. Right of zero, the candidate would narrow the penalty. Left of zero, they would keep or expand it. Fictional candidates.

Fictional candidate

Lila Hartman

Limited-government placeholder · Winnability 1 · Score 4.8

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Limited-government placeholder.

Fictional candidate

Yves Rask

Enforcement-first placeholder · Winnability 5 · Score -7.8

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Enforcement-first placeholder.

Placeholder call for Tennessee, Governor. The issue in this office is “Qualified immunity when officials injure nonviolent people.” Editors mark a toss-up because Lila Hartman has the better liberty alignment, and a winnability of 1, which is below the floor the coalition will endorse. The better-aligned candidate is below the winnability floor. Lila Hartman and Yves Rask are fictional.

All calls for this state