Spending and controversy heat up Tennessee primaries

Tennessee held Republican primaries for governor yesterday, along with a number of House primaries. The race for governor got national attention last month when Tennessee’s Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey made controversial remarks about Islam in a video later published on YouTube.

“Now, you could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, a cult, whatever you want to call it,” he continued. “But certainly we do protect our religions, but at the same time, this is something we are going to have to face.”

Did those remarks affect his chances at the governorship, against his main rival, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam? WPLN reporter Blake Farmer has the results of yesterday’s primaries.