Last Thursday, H.T. Devault and Cecile Testerman, committeepersons for the State Republican Party for the 4th Senate District, asked Sen. Mike Williams to resign from the State Senate since he resigned from the Republican Party and now more GOP officials in the district are following suit.
"As the chairpersons of the three largest counties in the 4th Senate District, Chairman Swilling and I want to add our names to the list of those calling for his resignation," said Hobart Rice, chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party.
Hawkins, Jefferson and Claiborne Counties comprise almost three quarters of the registered voters in the 4th Senate District, they said.
"Since Mike Williams has abandoned the party whose nomination he sought and used for his election, we call on Senator Williams, as a man of principle, to resign his seat in the Tennessee Senate and to ask Governor Bredesen to schedule a special election to fill the vacancy in the 4th Senate District," said Judi Swilling, chairman of the Claiborne County Republican Party.
"If, indeed, our Senator's abandonment of the Republican Party is a matter of principle, we call for a full measure of principle and not just a half measure. To continue to serve in the office to which he was elected as a Republican - when in fact he professes he is no longer a Republican – is not fully principled," Chairman Rice said.
Also joining in the call for resignation from the Tennessee Senate is Jack Rhyne, immediate past chairman of the Union County GOP, and Nadine Stansbury, chairwoman of the Grainger County Republican Women.
Sen. Williams said he has no intention to resign.