Rep. John Duncan (R) Elected 1988, 8th term
Born:	July 21, 1947, Lebanon
Home:	Knoxville
Education:	U. of TN, B.S. 1969, George Washington U., J.D. 1973
Religion:	Presbyterian
Marital Status:	married (Lynn)
Military Career:	Army Natl. Guard & Army Reserves, 1970-87.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1973-81; Knox Cnty. judge, 1981-88.
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Knoxville, the largest city in East Tennessee, is nestled between mountain ridges where the Holston and French Broad Rivers join to form the Tennessee River. It was established not long after the first wave of pioneers came through the gaps and down between the mountains of the Appalachian chain. During the Civil War it was Union territory, and it has remained Republican in allegiance ever since: The ancestral tug of Tennessee politics. But its Republican heritage is tempered by another tradition, that of the Tennessee Valley Authority. A venturesome program when created in the 1930s, it is now part of the fabric of life in East Tennessee, sometimes criticized as its cheap hydroelectric power capacity was filled and more of its production came from expensive and sometimes poorly functioning nuclear plants.

Both TVA and the region have undergone turbulent changes in recent years. TVA has cut its payroll sharply and held down rates; in a newly competitive electricity market, its director proposed abandoning federal subsidies and spinning off navigation and flood control functions to state or federal agencies; but TVA is laboring under billions of dollars in debt mostly incurred in building its nuclear plants. Knoxville is one of those cities which has overcome setbacks and grown robustly without much notice in the national press. Education entrepreneur Christopher Whittle's campus in downtown Knoxville is now a federal courthouse complex; the 1982 World's Fair site is now the home of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. And the University of Tennessee's football stadium on fall Saturdays contains one of the nation's largest crowds--it qualifies as the state's 5th largest city during games--cheering the Vols. Knoxville is also the home base of InstaPundit.com, the weblog of University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds, "the Grand Central Station" of weblogs. It was one of the first weblogs to skewer Trent Lott for his comments at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party, comments that the national press had ignored: One man at his desktop in Knoxville can be a player in national politics.

The 2d Congressional District includes Knoxville and Knox County, plus four mountainous counties and part of one other to the south. It is heavily Republican and has not elected a Democratic congressman since the Civil War. Knox County surprised many by giving a narrow plurality to Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen in 2002, but Republican Van Hilleary carried the rest of the district by a wider margin.

The congressman from the 2d District is John Duncan, a Republican elected in 1988; his father, who was senior Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, represented the 2d from 1964 until his death in May 1988. Duncan studied in Knoxville and Washington, practiced law and was a trial judge in the 1980s. When his father died, he won the seat despite a spirited challenge from Democrat Dudley Taylor, a scion of another prominent East Tennessee political family. Taylor attacked Duncan for signing up with the National Guard in 1970 and for his ties to scandal-tarred banker and Democratic politician Jake Butcher, but Duncan won with 56% in the special election and 57% in November.

Duncan has been an occasional maverick on economic and foreign policy issues. For six years, the House Republicans' term limit, he chaired the Aviation Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, dealing with airline ticket taxes, aviation safety and treatment of unruly airplane passengers. In 2001 he switched and became chairman of the Water Resources Subcommittee. Duncan opposed PNTR with China, trade promotion authority and he was one of 10 Republicans to vote against the new Homeland Security Department. In October 2002 he was one of six Republicans--and the only Tennessean--who voted against the use of force in Iraq. Duncan said that this was his most difficult vote in 14 years in the House; he argued that there was not sufficient proof that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. He also showed independence from party lines when he voted against term limits and initially favored the Shays-Meehan campaign finance bill, though he voted against the final version in February 2002. He was a team player in helping to negotiate the final deal on the airline security bill after the September 11 attacks. Duncan's independence had its price. He was a candidate for the chairmanship of the Resources Committee in 2003. But Speaker Dennis Hastert's Steering Committee passed over Duncan and five other senior members and gave the post to Richard Pombo.

Duncan sometimes takes his thrifty approach to unusual extremes. He voted in 1997 to end subsidies for sugar, peanuts and tobacco. He questioned excessive bonuses and pensions for TVA executives and won enactment of his bill to have TVA's inspector general appointed by the President rather than the TVA board. Duncan hasn't been shy about seeking funding for other local projects, from resurfacing the Foothills Parkway in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to a rail and trolley system for downtown Knoxville. Duncan is chief sponsor of a National Parks check-off on the income tax form, which would provide more funding for U.S. parks, including Great Smoky Mountains. In Knoxville, his annual barbecue dinner draws as many as 10,000 people.

In 2002, against his first Democratic challenger since 1996, Duncan won 79%-20%.

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DC Office
2267 RHOB 20515, 202-225-5435; Fax: 202-225-6440; Web site: www.house.gov/duncan

State Offices
Athens, 423-745-4671; Knoxville, 865-523-3772; Maryville, 865-984-5464.

Committees

• Government Reform (16th of 24 R): National Security, Emerging Threats & International Relations.
• Resources (6th of 28 R): Forests & Forest Health; National Parks, Recreation & Public Lands.
• Transportation & Infrastructure (5th of 41 R): Aviation; Highways, Transit & Pipelines; Water Resources & Environment (Chmn.).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	5	7	11	25	97	50	71	75	92	97	100
2001	10	--	10	14	--	--	71	70	92	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	46%	--	54%		16%	--	81%
Social	0%	--	81%		0%	--	75%
Foreign	43%	--	53%		52%	--	48%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Ban ANWR Development N 5. Faith-Based Charities Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority N 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq N 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	John Duncan (R)	146,887	79%	$362,876
	John Greene (D)	37,035	20%
	Other	2,059	1%
2002 primary	John Duncan (R)	67,582	92%
	Jim Pendergrass (R)	6,095	8%
2000 general	John Duncan (R)	187,154	89%	$342,829
	Kevin J. Rowland (Lib)	22,304	11%
Prior winning percentages: 1998 (89%); 1996 (71%); 1994 (90%); 1992 (72%); 1990 (81%); 1988 (57%); 1988 (56%)

2000 presidential
	Bush (R)	144,412	59%
	Gore (D)	95,100	39%
	Other	4,246	2%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Second District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +11
• District Size: 2,492 square miles
• Population in 2000: 632,144; 71.4% urban; 28.6% rural
• Median Household Income: $36,796; 12.2% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 25.9% blue collar; 59.6% white collar; 14.5% gray collar; 13.5% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 90.1% White, 6.2% Black, 1.0% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.0% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 1.3% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 14.0% USA, 8.9% English, 8.9% German
• Click here for statewide demographic data.