For the first time since a special election in 2011, Knox County’s state Senate District 6 has a contested Republican primary.

This year presents the first contested GOP primary in the 6th District since 2011.

Incumbent state Sen. Becky Duncan Massey faces a challenge from newcomer Monica Irvine.

The seat has been in GOP hands for decades and the district has some of the county’s reddest precincts. Massey has been reelected three times, never failing to get at least 60 percent of the vote. Whoever wins the Republican primary will have history on her side.

Massey is firmly entrenched in the Knox County Republican establishment and is running on her record in the GOP-dominated Senate, where she is chair of the Transportation and Safety Committee and a member of the Health and Welfare Committee.

Irvine and her husband own Sullivan’s restaurant in Rocky Hill, and she runs the Etiquette Factory, a business that teaches etiquette and life skills. She became politically active through her involvement in the Knox County chapter of Tennessee Right to Life. 

The 6th state Senate District has a large geographic footprint, including Northeast, East and South Knox County, as well as South Knoxville and West Knoxville along the Tennessee River to Concord.

The district contains communities with residents of all socioeconomic backgrounds — economically challenged urban neighborhoods, vast amounts of farmland, middle-class subdivisions and affluent waterfront developments.

As a benefit of her long tenure in the Senate, Massey holds a commanding lead in fundraising. She came into 2024 with $613,088 in her campaign account and as of June 30 her balance had grown to $684,634, despite spending $83,829 during the past six months. Irvine, who has loaned her campaign $51,o75, had $32,391 available on June 30. 

Massey’s robust network of financial supporters include prominent Republican donors and business owners — members of the Haslam family, Pete Claussen, Jim Clayton, Raja Jubran, Pete DeBusk and many others — as well as business and healthcare trade associations and PACS.

Irvine is a former board member of Tennessee Right to Life, and has been endorsed by the organization. Knox County chapter officers Stacy Dunn (president) and Angel Brewer (business manager) are among her donors.

The winner will square off against Domonica Bryan, who’s unopposed in the Democratic primary, in the general election. We will profile Bryan before that contest.

Here’s a look at the GOP contenders.

Monica Irvine

Irvine said in a recent interview that she decided run for the 6th District seat after Massey co-sponsored legislation that would add exemptions to Tennessee’s abortion ban for rape and incest. 

“Basically, I determined that my current representative in this seat just was no longer representing my values, and just thought it was too important to let it go unchallenged,” she said “I believe that we have human life in the unborn, and I do not believe we have the authority to choose to end human life. I'm opposed to that.”

Irvine said she looked into Massey’s voting record and found that, while she typically votes for conservative policies, she has declined to vote on some matters. She specifically referenced a bill that would have blocked medication for gender reassignment.

“You either vote yes or you vote no, but you have to take a stand, because we actually elect you and pay you a salary to do a job,” she said. “You can't refuse to do the job that we've elected you and are paying you to do.”

Irvine also opposes the state’s involvement in public-private partnerships, which she said violates the state constitution’s ban on lending its credit to private interests. She pointed to state support for Blue Oval City, the massive Ford Motor Company plant to be built in West Tennessee near Memphis, as an example.

“If it's a great deal, then let the investors take the risk and be on the hook, but not Tennessee taxpayers,” she said.

Irvine also said that the Ford Foundation donates money to Planned Parenthood, even though the foundation and the auto manufacturer are legally unrelated entities and operate independently.

She said the only incentive Tennessee needs to offer is a low tax burden, and she supports capping property taxes in the state. 

Irvine said she and her husband have been business owners for 30 years and have employed hundreds of people without the benefit of a tax break. “Why do we pick winners and losers?” she said. “Why can't everyone in Tennessee be a winner, and everyone benefits?” 

Irvine is also a proponent of school choice, and supports a comprehensive voucher program in Tennessee. She said she would oppose any efforts to implement testing requirements or otherwise regulate the private schools that would ultimately receive state funding. State funding for each child’s education, she said, should follow the child wherever they are educated.

“I trust parents are very capable, smart enough, care the most about their children's success, that parents can be the ones to decide if an educational environment is working for their children,” she said. “I believe in parents, and I believe that they will determine what's best for their children.”

Irvine was born in Oak Ridge and grew up mostly in Clinton, though her parents moved a couple of times during her childhood. She went to the University of Tennessee and Brigham Young University. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, she said her faith inspires her positions on issues.

As an etiquette instructor, Irvine said, campaigning for office, which forces a candidate to talk about themselves, has been tough.

“When I teach people what it means to be a lady, one of the number one rules is that my focus and my intention is supposed to be on you, not me,” she said. “I've been breaking a lot of etiquette rules.”

Irvine said she researches all sides of issues. A staunch advocate for gun rights, she studied “red flag” laws that would allow courts to prevent people with demonstrated psychological issues from possessing firearms.

“I literally tried my best to understand every argument,” she said. “Ultimately, I decided that I felt it is a violation of our constitutional right, and I didn't see any data that they work.”

Irvine said 90 percent of the Republican voters she contacts when going door-to-door have said they’re excited she’s running and that their values align. 

“I think Tennesseans should vote for who they think most aligns with their values,” she said, “and then we can do our best to make sure that we live up to what we said we would do.” 

Becky Massey

When Massey talks about running for reelection, she emphasizes that she gets results.

“When you can be as effective as I've been able to be, and you can pass legislation that saves lives or dramatically helps people, it's hard to step down,” she said.

Massey points to two recent developments that she has championed through her committee memberships: a projected overhaul of Interstate 40/75 through West Knoxville and a study that could lead to a new state psychiatric hospital in the Knoxville area.

“I feel like I'm uniquely positioned to spearhead it,” she said. “That's not saying it wouldn't get done if I'm not there, but I believe it would take a lot longer. You try to have a champion pushing it forward.”

Massey said it’s unfortunate that a fellow Republican is challenging her, but she’s not surprised.

“Unfortunately, in this day and age, there are some people that if you don't agree with them 5 percent of the time, you're almost their enemy,” she said. “I'm of the philosophy of Ronald Reagan — if you agree with me 80 percent of the time, you're my friend, I even take it a little lower to 70 percent, and if I can get 70 percent done of what I'm trying to get done, I'm successful.”

Massey said it’s frustrating that her record is being distorted. For example, she said, the abortion ban exemption bill she supported would have helped bring child rapists and people who commit incest to justice. A bill requiring parental approval to get vaccines that Irvine has cited was flawed in the Senate, Massey said, because it didn’t consider children in state custody. She voted for the final bill after it was amended in the House.

When it comes to economic incentives to bring jobs to Tennessee, Massey focuses less on tax breaks and more on ways to make life easier for the workforce. She would like to loosen regulations to encourage more housing that  middle-income families can afford to buy. She also wants to address the $2 billion a year Tennessee loses in economic impact because of a lack of affordable and accessible child care.

Massey said one of the initiatives she’s pushing is “Promise of Futures,” which would provide last-dollar funding for early childcare or early education. That would free up parents to rejoin the workforce, she said.

When it comes to incentives, she wants to see a return on investment and performance measures, but noted that in some cases the money goes toward road and infrastructure improvements that otherwise wouldn’t be funded.

Massey indicated that her position on school vouchers is evolving. “In the past, I haven't voted for it because I've always felt like we've needed to be doing better on our funding for public education,” she said, “but in the last several years, we've increased our funding for public education by over $3 billion.”

She also noted that vouchers could be used for students to go from one public school system to another, and signed on as a co-sponsor to Gov. Bill Lee’s voucher bill so she would have a say on the topic. “I'd rather be at the table with the conversations than on the outside where I can't nudge someone.”

Massey has impeccable GOP credentials. She is the daughter of the late Knoxville Mayor and U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Sr. and the sister of former longtime U.S. Rep. John J. “Jimmy” Duncan Jr. 

Sh didn’t jump directly into politics after graduating from the University of Tennessee, though. She immersed herself in volunteer and nonprofit work. For 25 years, she was the executive director of the Sertoma Center, which provides services to adults with intellectual disabilities. She said the commitment to service instilled by her family prompted her to run for the seat in the 2011 special election.

Massey won that race to replace Jamie Woodson, who stepped away from the Legislature to take the reins of State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), an education research and advocacy nonprofit. She hasn’t had a close call since then.

The incumbent said she’s been endorsed by Lee, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler. She said she tells voters she works hard, listens, shows respect and gets results.

“To me, it's about getting things done,” Massey said. “It's making a difference in people's lives.”