Sen. Lamar Alexander to run radio ads featuring country music star, former congressman and Claude Ramsey

Arkansas-Tennessee Live Blog

NASHVILLE -- Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander's campaign goes back on the air Sunday with a statewide series of 60-second radio ads from supporters including an award-winning country music star as well as former Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey.

The campaign says the ads describe how Alexander's tenure as governor in the 1970s and 1980s as well as his work since being elected to the Senate in 2002 have "shown him standing up for Tennesseans by staying true to his conservative roots and getting results."

Ramsey, former top deputy to Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, describes how as governor, Alexander helped with development in Chattanooga and recruited the auto industry to Tennessee. He also describes how as a senator, Alexander wrote legislation that speeds up the replacement of the aging Chickamauga Lock by as much as six years.

Country music artist Kix Brooks describes how Alexander helped build the state's four-lane highway system with zero road debt and says Alexander passed legislation to make medicines safer after Tennessee's meningitis outbreak. Brooks describes how Alexander also worked with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to keep the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from restricting fishing below publicly owned dams.

Others featured in the ads include Bill Landry, producer of the "Heartland" series; former Shelby County Mayor Jim Rout; former U.S. Rep. Bill Jenkins and Dale Kelley, a one-time state commissioner under Alexander.

Alexander faces state Rep. Joe Carr of Lascassas and Memphis physician and businessman George Flinn in the GOP's Aug. 7 primary.

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