HB 855 Tennessee House · 114th Regular Session (2025-2026)

Election Laws - As enacted, generally requires statewide political parties to nominate their candidates in primary elections for all offices for which partisan elections are held at the regular August or regular November election; authorizes, in a county in which a statewide political party nominated a candidate by a method other than a primary election in 2022 or 2024, the statewide political party in such county to continue to use such method with certain exceptions. - Amends TCA Title 2.

HB 855 requires Tennessee's statewide political parties (like Republicans and Democrats) to nominate candidates for all partisan offices through primary elections held in August or November. This applies to all counties, except in counties where a party used a non-primary method (like a convention) to nominate candidates in 2022 or 2024, allowing them to continue that method under specific conditions. The bill amends Tennessee election law to standardize nomination procedures while preserving limited exceptions for counties with prior non-primary nominations. It directly affects how political parties select candidates for statewide and local offices in partisan elections.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Feb 5, 2025 Last action Apr 29, 2025
Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
20
Key actions
6
Committee
9
Apr 9, 2025
Lower · Passed
Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/10/2025
lower
Apr 8, 2025
Lower · Passed
Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee
lower
Apr 2, 2025
Lower · Passed
Action def. in State & Local Government Committee to 4/9/2025
lower
Apr 2, 2025
Lower · Passed
Placed on cal. State & Local Government Committee for 4/9/2025
lower
Mar 26, 2025
Lower · Passed
Placed on cal. State & Local Government Committee for 4/2/2025
lower
Mar 25, 2025
Committee
Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to State & Local Government Committee
lower
Mar 19, 2025
Lower · Passed
Placed on s/c cal Elections & Campaign Finance Subcommittee for 3/25/2025
lower
Feb 10, 2025
Committee
Assigned to s/c Elections & Campaign Finance Subcommittee
lower
Feb 6, 2025
Committee
P2C, ref. to State & Local Government Committee
lower
Feb 5, 2025
Introduced
Intro., P1C.
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Lee Reeves
Lee Reeves
RRepublican
TN
65