Former Tennessee Democratic Party chair Dick Lodge dies at 79

The Tennessee Capitol (Photo: John Partipilo)

Richard “Dick” Lodge, a former chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party who worked to create the Super Tuesday presidential primary, died Thursday at the age of 79.

Lodge served as Democratic Party chair from 1983-1988, during which time he headed the Committee of Southern States, an organization that proposed holding all southern state primaries on the same day to increase their power in choosing the Democratic nominee for President.

“When your dog bites you four or five times, it’s time to get a new dog. We’ve been bitten and it’s time for the South to get a new dog,” said Lodge of the Super Tuesday primary concept, according to historian Barbara Norrander.

Richard “Dick” Lodge. (Photo courtesy of Tennessee Bar Association.)

The first Super Tuesday in 1988 had 14 southern and border states holding presidential primaries on the first Tuesday in March. It has since evolved into not just a day for southern state primaries, but many more, making it one of the most important days in the U.S. Presidential party nomination process because of the number of delegates up for grabs.

Chip Forrester, who served as executive director of the state Democratic Party under Lodge, said he had immense political skills and empathy for those in need.

“What always stood out for me is the competence with which he ran meetings and leadership in keeping the state (Democratic) executive committee on track,” Forrester said. “He had great generosity for the downtrodden and worked particularly through the Episcopal Church.”

Born in Sewanee, Tennessee, Lodge was a graduate of Sewanee: The University of the South, and Vanderbilt University Law School. He worked on the successful 1976 U.S. Senate campaign of the late Jim Sasser and served as his first legislative director in Washington, D.C.

After returning to Tennessee in 1978, Lodge headed the government affairs practice at Nashville law firm Bass, Berry & Sims, and was appointed first chair of the Metro Nashville Sports Authority by then-Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen. He served as president of Legal Services of Middle Tennessee, a nonprofit law firm that defends the legal rights of low income and vulnerable Tennesseans, and worked with Thistle Farms, a Nashville-based organization that provides housing and job training to women recovering from sex trafficking, addiction or prostitution

Lodge’s funeral will be Thursday, September 26 at 3 p.m.  at Christ Cathedral, and a visitation with family will be held Wednesday, September 25 at 3-5:30 p.m. at the cathedral.