Rosalind Kurita

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Rosalind Kurita is Speaker pro tempore of the Tennessee State Senate, representing State Senate District 22 (Cheatham, Houston, and Montgomery Counties), centered on Clarksville. In 2005, Kurita announced her intentions to run for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate to succeed retiring senator Bill Frist. After fundraising little conditions, Kurita withdrew from the race and endorsed eventual Democratic nomineee Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. for the nomination.

Kurita grew up in Midland, Texas, and is the daughter of a former leader in the Republican Party. She married in 1972 and has three children.

Kurita is a registered nurse, and received her B.A. from the University of Arkansas. Then, after her children’s births, Kurita created her own small medical marketing business. Kurita began in politics as a county commissioner for Montgomery County.

In 1996, Kurita won a state senate seat versus an incumbent Republican Party senator. She has been re-elected twice, in 2000 and 2004. She was able to return to the State Senate following her brief run for the U.S. Senate, since she is not up for reelection until 2008.

On January 9, 2007, Kurita became the lone member of the Democratic caucus in the Tennessee Senate to join with all 17 Republican members to vote for the replacement of Lieutenant Governor John S. Wilder with the Republican nominee, Ron Ramsey. On January 12, 2007, Ramsey named Kurita Speaker pro tempore, replacing Republican Senator Michael Williams, who had likewise voted in the previous legislative session against his caucus in favor of Wilder.

Kurita has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Democratic nomination in Tennessee's 7th congressional district in the 2008 election. The district, represented by Republican Marsha Blackburn (who served with her in the State Senate from 1999 to 2003) includes most of Kurita's state senate district. If Kurita does run, she would be by far the strongest Democratic challenger in the district since it fell into Republican hands in 1973. She has also been mentioned as a candidate for Tennessee's other Senate seat, held by Republican Lamar Alexander. [1] However, there are also many in the Tennessee political establishment that believe that Kurita's vote against her party may doom her chances at advancement in state politics and is nearly certain to result in a primary challenge in 2008.

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