Golden new head of TNGOP

Scott Golden addresses the TNGOP SEC.

In what came as a surprise to outsiders but not so much to party insiders, the new head of the Tennessee Republican party is Scott Golden. He will replace the outgoing head, former state rep. Ryan Haynes, who plans to work in the private sector in Knoxville.

The current deputy chief and district director for U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher and former staffer for U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn edged out current party executive director Brent Leatherwood in two rounds of voting. A third candidate, Bill Giannini, a Haslam appointee as the deputy commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, lost in the first round of voting.