Two former Tennessee governors, Democrat Phil Bredesen and Republican Bill Haslam, say Tennessee politics have become increasingly performative amid the rise of populism, and they hope leaders will eschew partisan tribalism in favor of policies that serve all Tennesseans.

“One of the unfortunate realities is politics today has become very performative rather than very effective oriented, and that performance has meant that no matter what the issue, it’s like, ‘How can my side score some points on this?’” Haslam said. “I think if you’re going to give part of your adult life to being in government, you might want to leave by saying, ‘Hey, we actually really did some good. I didn’t just score some points for my team. We actually made life better for Tennesseans.'"

Haslam, 67, and Bredesen,

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