Joe Carr still weighing run for GOP chairman

Now that Rick Womick has challenged Beth Harwell for House speaker, eyes are turning to another potential race for GOP leadership that would also pit the tea party versus the establishment.

The rumor for weeks has been that outgoing state Rep. Joe Carr, R-Lascassas, who performed better than many had expected in his primary loss to U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, may make a run at the Tennessee Republican Party chairmanship held by Chris Devaney.

Contacted Monday, Carr wasn't ready to commit one way or the other, though he suggested a decision could be made as soon as this week.

"I still haven't decided yet," Carr said.

Carr finished with 41 percent of the GOP vote in August against Alexander while winning numerous counties outright despite being decidedly outspent by the incumbent. It kept Alexander, who went on to win in a blowout in the general election, from garnering half the vote in the GOP primary in August.

In a sign of the tea party divide within the Republican Party, Womick — an outspoken lawmaker from Rockvale — announced a long-shot effort last week to run against Harwell from her role as speaker.

Devaney wouldn't be an easy target either. Under his tenure, the Tennessee GOP has continued to increase its supermajorities in both the House and Senate. That continued last week in an election that also saw Gov. Bill Haslam and Alexander get re-elected and all four constitutional amendments pass easily.

Carr, meanwhile, opted against publicly endorsing Alexander during the general election -- a decision that might not sit well with members of the party's executive committee.

Devaney, in a letter to the Republican Party's state executive committee on the day after election night, announced plans to seek a fourth term for his post.